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By NASA
From the Mission Control Center to community celebrations, Kenneth Attocknie blends safety expertise with a commitment to cultural connection.
For the past 25 years at NASA, Attocknie has dedicated his career to safeguarding the International Space Station and supporting real-time mission operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
As a principal safety engineer in the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate, Attocknie ensures the safe operation of the space station’s environmental control and life support system. This system is vital for maintaining the life-sustaining environment aboard the orbiting laboratory— a critical foundation for similar systems planned for future Artemis missions.
Official portrait of Kenneth Attocknie.NASA/Bill Stafford As a contractor with SAIC, Attocknie has served as a flight controller, astronaut crew office engineer, and astronaut crew instructor. He joined NASA just as the first two modules of the space station, Zarya and Unity, connected in space on Dec. 6, 1998.
“I’ve supported the space station ever since and have been blessed to witness the remarkable progression of this amazing orbiting experiment,” he said. “I feel I have found a way to contribute positively to NASA’s mission: to improve life for all people on our planet.”
He also contributed to closing out the Space Shuttle Program and worked in system safety for the Constellation program.
As part of SAIC’s Employee Resource Group, Attocknie supports the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement project, which uses project-based learning to inspire high school students from underrepresented communities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. He continues to advocate for Native Americans as a member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, helping NASA engage with college students across Indian Country.
Flight controller Kenneth Attocknie on console in the Blue Flight Control Room during Expedition 11. NASA/Mark Sowa Attocknie strives to contribute to a space exploration legacy that uplifts and unites cultures, paving the way for a future in human spaceflight that honors and empowers all.
A member of the Comanche and Caddo tribes of Oklahoma, he has made it his mission to create a cross-cultural exchange between NASA and Native communities to provide opportunities for Natives to visit Johnson.
One of his proudest moments was organizing a Native American Heritage Month event with NASA’s Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office. The celebration brought together Native dancers and singers from Oklahoma and Texas to honor their heritage at Johnson.
“Seeing the Johnson community rally around this event was amazing,” said Attocknie. “It was a profound experience to share and celebrate my culture here.”
A traditional dance exhibition during a Native American cultural celebration at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA/Allison Bills Overcoming challenges and setbacks has been part of his NASA experience as well. “Finding and achieving my purpose is always an ongoing journey,” he said. “Accepting what might seem like a regression is the first step of growth. There’s always a lesson to be found, and every disappointment can fuel a new ambition and direction. Ride the waves, be humble, learn lessons, and above all, always keep going.”
He believes that NASA’s mission is deeply connected to diversity and inclusion. “You can’t truly benefit humankind if you don’t represent humankind,” said Attocknie. “The status quo may feel comfortable, but it leads to stagnation and is the antithesis of innovation.”
Kenneth Attocknie (middle) celebrates his Native American culture with the Caddo tribe of Oklahoma.NASA/Allison Bills Attocknie’s hope for the Artemis Generation? “A healthier planet, society, and the desire to pass on lessons of stewardship for our environment. All life is precious.”
He sees NASA as a gateway to a brighter future: “NASA can truly harness its influence to be an example for our planet, not only in the new heavenly bodies we journey to but also in the new human spirits we touch.”
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By European Space Agency
It's 'Lights, camera and... action!' for ESA as the agency launches Film ESA, a dedicated film location guide.
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Graphic depiction of Thin Film Isotope Nuclear Engine Rocket (TFINER)James Bickford James Bickford
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
New exciting missions, such as a rendezvous with a passing interstellar object, or a multi-target observing effort at the solar gravitational focus, require velocities that are well in excess of conventional rocketry. Exotic solar sail approaches may enable reaching the required distant localities, but are unable to then make the required propulsive maneuvers in deep space. Nuclear rockets are large and expensive systems with marginal capability to reach the location. In contrast, we propose a thin film nuclear isotope engine with sufficient capability to search, rendezvous and then return samples from distant and rapidly moving interstellar objects.
The same technology allows a gravitational lens telescope to be repointed so a single mission could observe numerous high-value targets.
The basic concept is to manufacture thin sheets of a radioactive isotope and directly use the momentum of its decay products to generate thrust. The baseline design is a ~10-micron thick Thorium-228 radioisotope film which undergoes alpha decay with a halflife of 1.9 years. The subsequent decay chain cascade produces daughter products with four additional alpha emissions that have halflives between 300ns and 3 days. A thrust is produced when one side of the thin film is coated with a ~50-micron thick absorber that captures forward emissions. Multiple “stages” consisting of longer half-life isotopes (e.g. Ac-227) can be combined to maximize the velocity over extended mission timelines.
Key differentiators of the concepts are:
• Cascading isotope decay chains (Thorium cycle) increases performance by ~500%
• Multiple ‘stages’ (materials) increases delta-V and lifetime without reducing thrust
• Thrust sheet reconfiguration enables active thrust vectoring and spacecraft maneuvers
• Substrate thermo-electrics can generate excess electrical power (e.g. ~50 kW @ eff=1%)
• A substrate beta emitter can be used for charge neutralization or to induce a voltage bias that preferentially directs exhaust emissions and/or to exploit the outbound solar wind
Leveraging 30kg of radioisotope (comparable to that launched on previous missions) spread over ~250 m^2 of area would provide more than 150 km/sec of delta-V to a 30 kg payload. Multiple such systems could be inserted into a solar escape trajectory with a single conventional launch vehicle allowing local search and rendezvous operations in the outer solar system. The system is scalable to other payloads and missions. Key advantages are:
• Ability to reach a velocity greater than 100 km/sec with spare capacity for rendezvous operations around objects outside the solar
system including options for sample return.
• Simple design based on known physics and well-known materials
• Scalable to smaller payloads (sensors) or to larger missions (e.g., telescopes)
• Novel ability to reach deep space (> 150 AU) very quickly and then continue aggressive maneuvers (> 100 km/sec) for dim object search/rendezvous and/or retargeting telescopes at the solar gravitational focus over a period of years.
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By European Space Agency
Video: 02:02:28 One giant planet. Three icy moons. An eight-year journey. One special spacecraft.
Building a mission to Jupiter took years of planning and thousands of people. Now that Juice is finally en route to its destination, we go behind the scenes to discover the story of the making of Juice.
The film features exclusive interviews with scientists and engineers from across Europe, as well as backstage footage from the planning, testing and launch of this once-in-a-generation mission.
Follow the final three years of Juice’s life on Earth. Discover why the mission was named Juice, how teams working on the spacecraft handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and why the spacecraft carries a special plaque dedicated to Galileo. Join Juice as it gets assembled, probed and tested to be certain that it is ready for Jupiter. And experience the emotion as Juice is put into a rocket and launched into space, marking the beginning of its 12-year adventure in the Solar System.
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By USH
On June 29, 2019 a deep ocean ROV (remotely operated vehicle) captured at a depth of 1789 meters a UFO/USO passing the ROV at high speed.
This USO/UFO footage was filmed with a work class ROV at an ocean depth of 5870 Feet (1789 Meters) in the Gulf of Mexico. The USO was untethered and was operating at a depth that prevented any kind of remote operation.
While the footage quality isn't excellent, ROV operators that have seen the footage have no idea what the object may have been but concluded that it is not organic.
The USO demonstrated advanced AI operation, construction, and power management capabilities that are not known in the commercial ROV world.
This footage is further proof that these USOs do exist and have been with us for as long as airborne UFOs have. We only need to recognize and understand this phenomenon whether they are of extraterrestrial origin or military.
Timestamps Video: 1. Context from an ROV Operator (00:30) 2. USO Footage (12:00) 3. USO Replay (12:40) 4. USO Slow Motion (13:00)
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