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By NASA
Electrical engineer Scott Hesh works on a sub-payload canister at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia. The cannister will be part of a science experiment and a demonstration of his Swarm Communications technology.Credits: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Berit Bland Scott Hesh, an electrical engineer at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, was announced Nov. 2 as the FY22 IRAD Innovator of the Year, an award presented by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“An electrical engineer with an insatiable curiosity, Scott Hesh and his team have worked hand-in-glove with science investigators since 2017,” said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes. “He developed a technology to sample Earth’s upper atmosphere in multiple dimensions with more accurate time and location data than previously possible with a sounding rocket.”
Related: NASA Sounding Rockets Launch Multiple Science Payloads
Newly proven technology developed at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, turns a single sounding rocket into a hive deploying a swarm of up to 16 instruments. The technology offers unprecedented accuracy for monitoring Earth’s atmosphere and solar weather over a wide area.
Engineers Josh Yacobucci (left) and Scott Hesh test fit a science sensor sub-payload into a Black Brant sounding rocket at Wallops.Credits: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Berit Bland The Internal Research and Development (IRAD) Innovator of the Year award is presented by Goddard’s Office of the Chief Technologist to individuals who demonstrate the best in innovation.
“Scott has this enthusiasm for what he does that I think is really contagious,” Sounding Rocket Program technologist Cathy Hesh said. “He’s an electrical engineer by education, but he has such a grasp on other disciplines as well, so he’s sort of like a systems engineer. If he wants to improve something, he just goes out and learns all sorts of things that would be beyond the scope of his discipline.”
Mechanical engineer Josh Yacobucci has worked with Scott Hesh for more than 15 years, and said he always learns something when they collaborate.
“Scott brings this great perspective,” Yacobucci said. “He could help winnow out things in my designs that I hadn’t thought of.”
“For his interdisciplinary leadership resulting in game-changing improvements for atmospheric and solar science capabilities,” Hughes said, “Scott Hesh deserves Goddard’s Innovator of the Year Award.”
By Karl B. Hille
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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By NASA
Four individuals with NASA affiliations have been named 2022 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in recognition of their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements in the scientific enterprise.
Election as a Fellow by the AAAS Council honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues. The 2022 Fellows class includes 508 scientists, engineers, and innovators spanning 24 scientific disciplines.
Rita Sambruna from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was recognized in the AAAS Section on Astronomy, and Jennifer Wiseman, also from Goddard, was recognized in the AAAS Section on Physics. Dorothy Peteet of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York was honored in the AAAS section on Earth Science. Erik Conway of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California was honored for distinguished contributions and public outreach to the history of science and understanding of contemporary science and science policy.
Dr. Rita Sambruna is the acting deputy director of the Science and Exploration Directorate and the deputy director of the Astrophysics Division at Goddard. She also promotes increased participation of underrepresented groups in science.Courtesy of Rita M. Sambruna Rita Sambruna
Dr. Rita Sambruna is the acting deputy director of the Science and Exploration Directorate and the deputy director of the Astrophysics Division at Goddard. She also promotes increased participation of underrepresented groups in science.
She worked with a team to position Goddard to lead the decadal top priority missions. She led a team to set into place a vision for a Multi-Messenger Astrophysics Science Support Center at Goddard, to lead the astrophysics community in reaping the most from NASA- and ground-based observations of celestial sources.
She came to Goddard in 2005 to work on multiwavelength observations of jets using the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and other NASA capabilities. From 2010 to 2020 she worked at NASA Headquarters, Washington, as a program scientist for astrophysics. Her research interests include relativistic jets, physics of compact objects, supermassive black holes in galaxies, and multiwavelength and multi-messenger astrophysics.
In December 2022, Sambruna was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) as an internationally acclaimed astrophysicist who embodies the RAS mission in promoting the advancement of science, the increased participation of historically underrepresented groups in astronomy, and a broad interest in astronomy. In 2019 she was awarded the NASA Extraordinary Achievement Medal for her leadership on the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey studies. She was named Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2020 and a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2021.
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is a senior astrophysicist at Goddard and a Senior Fellow at Goddard, where she serves as the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Her primary responsibility is to ensure that the Hubble mission is as scientifically productive as possible.NASA Jennifer Wiseman
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is a senior astrophysicist at Goddard and a Senior Fellow at Goddard, where she serves as the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Her primary responsibility is to ensure that the Hubble mission is as scientifically productive as possible. Previously, Wiseman headed Goddard’s Laboratory for Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics. She started her career at NASA in 2003 as the program scientist for Hubble and several other astrophysics missions at NASA Headquarters.
Wiseman’s scientific expertise is centered on the study of star-forming regions in our galaxy using a variety of tools, including radio, optical, and infrared telescopes. She has a particular interest in dense interstellar gas cloud cores, embedded protostars, and their related outflows as active ingredients of cosmic nurseries where stars and their planetary systems are born. In addition to research in astrophysics, Wiseman is also interested in science policy and public science outreach and engagement. She has served as a congressional science fellow of the American Physical Society, an elected councilor of the American Astronomical Society, and a public dialogue leader for AAAS. She enjoys giving talks on the excitement of astronomy and scientific discovery, and has appeared in many science and news venues, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NOVA, and National Public Radio.
Dr. Dorothy M. Peteet is a senior research scientist at GISS and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. She directs the Paleoecology Division of the New Core Lab at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia.NASA Dorothy Peteet
Dr. Dorothy M. Peteet is a senior research scientist at GISS and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. She directs the Paleoecology Division of the New Core Lab at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia.
In collaboration with GISS climate modelers and LDEO geochemists, she is studying conditions of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene that are archived in sediments from lakes and wetlands. Peteet documents past changes in vegetation, derived from analyses of pollen and spores, plant and animal macrofossils, carbon, and charcoal embedded in sediments. Her research provides local and regional records of ancient vegetational and climate history. One recent focus has been the sequestration of carbon in northern peatlands and coastal marshes: ecosystems that are now vulnerable to climate change and potentially substantial releases of carbon back into the atmosphere.
Peteet also has performed climate modeling experiments to test hypotheses concerning the last glacial maximum and abrupt climate change. She is interested in climate sensitivity and in how past climate changes and ecological shifts might provide insights on future climate change.
Erik Conway has served as the historian at JPL since 2004. Prior to that, he was a contract historian at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He is a historian of science and technology, and has written histories of atmospheric science, supersonic transportation, aviation infrastructure, Mars exploration, and climate change denial.NASA Erik Conway
Erik Conway has served as the historian at JPL since 2004. Prior to that, he was a contract historian at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He is a historian of science and technology, and has written histories of atmospheric science, supersonic transportation, aviation infrastructure, Mars exploration, and climate change denial.
He is the author of nine books, most recently, “A History of Near-Earth Objects Research” (NASA, 2022), and “The Big Myth” (Bloomsbury, 2023). His book “Merchants of Doubt” with Naomi Oreskes was awarded the Helen Miles Davis and Watson Davis prize from the History of Science Society. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018 and the Athelstan Spilhaus Award from the American Geophysical Union in 2016.
AAAS noted that these honorees have gone above and beyond in their respective disciplines. They bring a broad diversity of perspectives, innovation, curiosity, and passion that will help sustain the scientific field today and into the future. Many of these individuals have broken barriers to achieve successes in their given disciplines.
AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 EditorJamie Adkins Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Goddard Institute for Space Studies People of Goddard View the full article
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By NASA
NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory was photographed at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in November 2024 after completing environmental testing. The spacecraft’s three concentric cones help direct heat and light away from the telescope and other components, keeping them cool. Credit: BAE Systems NASA will host a news conference at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31, to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.
Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27.
The news conference will be hosted at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Watch live on NASA+, as well as JPL’s X and YouTube channels. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL, will provide opening remarks. Additional briefing participants include:
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters James Fanson, project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL Beth Fabinsky, deputy project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL Jamie Bock, principal investigator, SPHEREx, Caltech Cesar Marin, SPHEREx integration engineer, Launch Services Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida To ask questions by phone, members of the media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to: rexana.v.vizza@jpl.nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online. Questions also can be asked on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.
The SPHEREx observatory will survey the entire celestial sky in near-infrared light to help answer cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for ices of water and organic molecules — essentials for life as we know it — in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 450 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The space observatory will share its ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which will lift off from Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California.
The SPHEREx mission is managed by NASA JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The principal investigator is based at Caltech in Pasadena, California, which manages NASA JPL for the agency.
The spacecraft is supplied by BAE Systems. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute contributed the non-flight cryogenic test chamber. Mission data will be publicly available through IPAC at Caltech.
For more information about the mission, visit:
https://nasa.gov/spherex
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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Val Gratias / Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215 / 626-808-2469
valerie.m.gratias@jpl.nasa.gov / calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 27, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer) Astrophysics Division Jet Propulsion Laboratory Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet conduct a spacewalk to complete work on the International Space Station on June 25, 2021.Credit: NASA Two NASA astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station, conducting U.S. spacewalk 91 on Thursday, Jan. 16, and U.S. spacewalk 92 on Thursday, Jan. 23, to complete station upgrades.
NASA also will discuss the pair of upcoming spacewalks during a news conference at 2 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10, on NASA+ from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Participants in the news conference from NASA Johnson include:
Bill Spetch, operations integration manager Nicole McElroy, spacewalk flight director Media interested in participating in person or by phone must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, at: 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. To ask questions, media must dial in no later than 15 minutes before the start of the news conference. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA.
The first spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. on Jan. 16, and last about six and a half hours. NASA will provide live coverage beginning at 5:30 a.m. on NASA+.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams will replace a rate gyro assembly that helps provide orientation control for the station, install patches to cover damaged areas of light filters for an X-ray telescope called NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), and replace a reflector device used for navigational data on one of the international docking adapters. Additionally, the pair will check access areas and connector tools that will be used for future maintenance work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.
Hague will serve as spacewalk crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Williams will serve as spacewalk crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. This will be the fourth for Hague and the eighth for Williams. It will be the 273rd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
The second spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. on Jan. 23, and last about six and a half hours. NASA will provide live coverage beginning at 5:30 a.m. on NASA+.
Astronauts will remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss, collect samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock to see whether microorganisms may exist on the exterior of the orbital complex, and prepare a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm in the event it is needed for a replacement.
Following completion of U.S. spacewalk 91, NASA will name the participating crew members for U.S. spacewalk 92. It will be the 274th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
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Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 07, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Humans in Space Johnson Space Center View the full article
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By NASA
Space for Earth is an immersive experience that is part of the Earth Information Center. Credit: NASA Media is invited to preview and interview NASA leadership ahead of the opening of the Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History at 10 a.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 7.
The 2,000-square-foot exhibit includes a 32-foot-long, 12-foot-high video wall displaying Earth science data visualizations and videos, an interpretive panel showing Earth’s connected systems, information on our changing world, and an overview of how NASA and the Smithsonian study our home planet. Visitors also can explore Earth observing missions, changes in Earth’s landscape over time, and how climate is expected to change regionally through multiple interactive experiences.
The event will take place at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 1000 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Members of the media interested in attending should email Liz Vlock at: elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Participants will be available for media interviews starting at the following times:
10 a.m.: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson 10 a.m.: Kirk Johnson, Sant director, Museum of Natural History 10:30 a.m.: Karen St. Germain, division director, NASA Earth Sciences Division 10:30 a.m.: Julie Robinson, deputy director, NASA Earth Sciences Division The Earth Information Center draws insights from across all NASA centers and its fellow partners – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and Federal Emergency Management Administration. It allows viewers to see how our home planet is changing and gives decision makers information to develop the tools they need to mitigate, adapt, and respond to climate change.
NASA’s Earth Information Center is a virtual and physical space designed to aid people to make informed decisions on Earth’s environment and climate. It provides easily accessible, readily usable, and scalable Earth information – enabling global understanding of our changing planet.
The expansion of the physical Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Museum makes it the second location in the Washington area. The first is located at NASA Headquarters in Washington at 300 E St., SW.
To learn more about the Earth Information Center visit:
https://earth.gov
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Elizabeth Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Sep 30, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Earth Science Division Earth Science NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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