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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Coastal locations, such as Drakes Bay on the Point Reyes peninsula in Northern California, are increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise.NOAA/NMFS/WCR/CCO The information will help people who live in coastal areas prepare for impacts caused by rising sea levels.
Earth’s ocean is rising, disrupting livelihoods and infrastructure in coastal communities around the world. Agencies and organizations are working to prepare people as their world changes around them, and NASA information is helping these efforts.
The agency’s global data is now available in the sea level section of the Earth Information Center. NASA developed the global sea level change website in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense, the World Bank, the U.S. Department of State, and the United Nations Development Programme.
The site includes information on projected sea level rise through the year 2150 for coastlines around the world, as well as estimates of how much flooding a coastal community or region can expect to see in the next 30 years. The projections come from data collected by NASA and its partners and from computer models of ice sheets and the ocean, as well as the latest sea level assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and other sources.
“NASA innovates for the benefit of humanity. Our cutting-edge instruments and data-driven information tools help communities and organizations respond to natural hazards and extreme weather, and inform critical coastal infrastructure planning decisions,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth science division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Information to Action
International organizations such as the World Bank will use the data from the global sea level change site for tasks including the creation of Climate Risk Profiles for countries especially vulnerable to sea level rise.
The Defense Department will continue to incorporate sea level rise data into its plans to anticipate and respond to hazards posed to its facilities by the effects of rising oceans. Similarly, the State Department uses the information for activities ranging from disaster preparedness to long-term adaptation planning to supporting partners around the world in related efforts.
“We are at a moment of truth in our fight against the climate crisis. The science is unequivocal and must serve as the bedrock upon which decision-making is built. With many communities around the world already facing severe impacts from sea-level rise, this new resource provides a vital tool to help them protect lives and livelihoods. It also illustrates what is at stake between a 1.5-degree-Celsius world and a current-policies trajectory for all coastal communities worldwide,” said Assistant Secretary-General Selwin Hart, special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on climate action and just transition.
Rising Faster
NASA-led data analyses have revealed that between 1970 and 2023, 96% of countries with coastlines have experienced sea level rise. The rate of that global rise has also accelerated, more than doubling from 0.08 inches (0.21 centimeters) per year in 1993 to about 0.18 inches (0.45 centimeters) per year in 2023.
As the rate of sea level rise increases, millions of people could face the related effects sooner than previously projected, including larger storm surges, more saltwater intrusion into groundwater, and additional high-tide flood days — also known as nuisance floods or sunny day floods.
“This new platform shows the timing of future floods and the magnitude of rising waters in all coastal countries worldwide, connecting science and physics to impacts on people’s livelihoods and safety,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, director of the ocean physics program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Data released earlier this year found that Pacific Island nations will experience at least 6 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise in the next 30 years. The number of high-tide flood days will increase by an order of magnitude for nearly all Pacific Island nations by the 2050s.
“The data is clear: Sea levels are rising around the world, and they’re rising faster and faster,” said Ben Hamlington, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and head of the agency’s sea level change science team. “Having the best information to make decisions about how to plan for rising seas is more crucial than ever.”
To explore the global sea level change site:
https://earth.gov/sealevel
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Karen Fox / Elizabeth Vlock
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Last Updated Nov 13, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Francisco Rodriguez (aircraft mechanic) services liquid oxygen or LOX on the ER-2 during the Geological Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx) research project. Experts like Rodriguez sustain a high standard of safety on airborne science aircraft like the ER-2 and science missions like GEMx. The ER-2 is based out of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.NASA/Steve Freeman Operating at altitudes above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA’s ER-2 aircraft is the agency’s highest-flying airborne science platform. With its unique ability to observe from as high as 65,000 feet, the ER-2 aircraft is often a platform for Earth science that facilitates new and crucial information about our planet, especially when the plane is part of collaborative and multidisciplinary projects.
“We’re deploying instruments and people everywhere from dry lakebeds in the desert to coastal oceans and from the stratosphere to marine layer clouds just above the surface,” said Kirk Knobelspiesse, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We live on a changing planet, and it is through collaborative projects that we can observe and understand those changes.”
One mission that recently benefitted from the ER-2’s unique capabilities is the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX) project. The PACE-PAX mission uses the ER-2’s capabilities to confirm data collected from the PACE satellite, which launched in February 2024.
The PACE observatory is making novel measurements of the ocean, atmosphere, and land surfaces, noted Knobelspiesse, the mission scientist for PACE-PAX. This mission is all about checking the accuracy of those new satellite measurements.
Sam Habbal (quality inspector), Darick Alvarez (aircraft mechanic), and Juan Alvarez (crew chief) work on the network “canoe” on top of the ER-2 aircraft, which provides network communication with the pilot onboard. Experts like these sustain a high standard of safety while outfitting instruments onboard science aircraft like the ER-2 and science missions like the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX) mission. The ER-2 is based out of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.NASA/Genaro Vavuris “The ER-2 is the ideal platform for PACE-PAX because it’s about the closest we can get to putting instruments in orbit without actually doing so,” Knobelspiesse said.
The collaborative project includes a diverse team of researchers from across NASA, plus the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, the Naval Postgraduate School, and other institutions.
Similarly, the Geological Earth Mapping eXperiment (GEMx) science mission is using the ER-2 over multiple years to collect observations of critical mineral resources across the Western United States.
“Flying at this altitude means the GEMx mission can acquire wide swaths of data with every overflight,” said Kevin Reath, NASA’s associate project manager for the GEMx mission, a collaboration between the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA.
The ER-2 conducted over 80 flight hours in service of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX) mission. The ER-2 is uniquely qualified to conduct the high-altitude scientific flights that this project required, and is based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.NASA/Genaro Vavuris The GEMx team collects visible, shortwave infrared, and thermal infrared data using instruments installed onboard the ER-2. Combining these instruments with the aircraft’s capability to fly at high altitudes bears promising results.
“The dataset being produced is the largest airborne surface mineralogy dataset captured in a single NASA campaign,” Reath said. “These data could help inform federal, tribal, state, and community leaders to make decisions that protect or develop our environment.”
Learn more about the ER-2 aircraft.
Learn more about the PACE-PAX mission.
Learn more about the GEMx mission.
Learn more about NASA’s Airborne Science Program.
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Last Updated Oct 24, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactErica HeimLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center Airborne Science Earth Science Earth's Atmosphere ER-2 PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Science Mission Directorate Explore More
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By NASA
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 members, from left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin and NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, are seen inside the Dragon spacecraft shortly after having landed off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, on Oct. 25, 2024. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission successfully splashed down at 3:29 a.m. EDT Friday, off Pensacola, Florida, concluding a nearly eight-month science mission and the agency’s eighth commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station.
After launching March 3 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, spent 232 days aboard the space station.
Recovery teams from NASA and SpaceX quickly secured the spacecraft and assisted the astronauts during exit. The crew now will head to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while the Dragon spacecraft will return to SpaceX facilities at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for inspection and refurbishment for future missions.
During their mission, crew members traveled nearly 100 million miles and completed 3,760 orbits around Earth. They conducted new scientific research to advance human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and benefit human life on Earth. Research and technology demonstrations included conducting stem cell research to develop organoid models for studying degenerative diseases, exploring how fuel temperature affects material flammability, and studying how spaceflight affects immune function in astronauts. Their work aims to improve astronaut health during long-duration spaceflights, contributing to critical advancements in space medicine and benefitting humanity.
Crew-8’s return follows the arrival of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 to the orbiting laboratory Sept. 29. These missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the station for research and development and supporting future missions beyond low Earth orbit by partnering with private companies to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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Last Updated Oct 25, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is depicted receiving a laser signal from the Deep Space Optical Communications uplink ground station at JPL’s Table Mountain Facility in this artist’s concept. The DSOC experiment consists of an uplink and downlink station, plus a flight laser transceiver flying with Psyche.NASA/JPL-Caltech The Deep Space Optical Communications tech demo has completed several key milestones, culminating in sending a signal to Mars’ farthest distance from Earth.
NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration broke yet another record for laser communications this summer by sending a laser signal from Earth to NASA’s Psyche spacecraft about 290 million miles (460 million kilometers) away. That’s the same distance between our planet and Mars when the two planets are farthest apart.
Soon after reaching that milestone on July 29, the technology demonstration concluded the first phase of its operations since launching aboard Psyche on Oct. 13, 2023.
“The milestone is significant. Laser communication requires a very high level of precision, and before we launched with Psyche, we didn’t know how much performance degradation we would see at our farthest distances,” said Meera Srinivasan, the project’s operations lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Now the techniques we use to track and point have been verified, confirming that optical communications can be a robust and transformative way to explore the solar system.”
Managed by JPL, the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment consists of a flight laser transceiver and two ground stations. Caltech’s historic 200-inch (5-meter) aperture Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, acts as the downlink station to which the laser transceiver sends its data from deep space. The Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at JPL’s Table Mountain facility near Wrightwood, California, acts as the uplink station, capable of transmitting 7 kilowatts of laser power to send data to the transceiver.
This visualization shows Psyche’s position on July 29 when the uplink station for NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications sent a laser signal about 290 million miles to the spacecraft. See an interactive version of the Psyche spacecraft in NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System.NASA/JPL-Caltech By transporting data at rates up to 100 times higher than radio frequencies, lasers can enable the transmission of complex scientific information as well as high-definition imagery and video, which are needed to support humanity’s next giant leap when astronauts travel to Mars and beyond.
As for the spacecraft, Psyche remains healthy and stable, using ion propulsion to accelerate toward a metal-rich asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Exceeding Goals
The technology demonstration’s data is sent to and from Psyche as bits encoded in near-infrared light, which has a higher frequency than radio waves. That higher frequency enables more data to be packed into a transmission, allowing far higher rates of data transfer.
Even when Psyche was about 33 million miles (53 million kilometers) away — comparable to Mars’ closest approach to Earth — the technology demonstration could transmit data at the system’s maximum rate of 267 megabits per second. That bit rate is similar to broadband internet download speeds. As the spacecraft travels farther away, the rate at which it can send and receive data is reduced, as expected.
On June 24, when Psyche was about 240 million miles (390 million kilometers) from Earth — more than 2½ times the distance between our planet and the Sun — the project achieved a sustained downlink data rate of 6.25 megabits per second, with a maximum rate of 8.3 megabits per second. While this rate is significantly lower than the experiment’s maximum, it is far higher than what a radio frequency communications system using comparable power can achieve over that distance.
This Is a Test
The goal of Deep Space Optical Communications is to demonstrate technology that can reliably transmit data at higher speeds than other space communication technologies like radio frequency systems. In seeking to achieve this goal, the project had an opportunity to test unique data sets like art and high-definition video along with engineering data from the Psyche spacecraft. For example, one downlink included digital versions of Arizona State University’s “Psyche Inspired” artwork, images of the team’s pets, and a 45-second ultra-high-definition video that spoofs television test patterns from the previous century and depicts scenes from Earth and space.
This 45-second ultra-high-definition video was streamed via laser from deep space by NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration on June 24, when the Psyche spacecraft was 240 million miles from Earth. NASA/JPL-Caltech The technology demonstration beamed the first ultra-high-definition video from space, featuring a cat named Taters, from the Psyche spacecraft to Earth on Dec. 11, 2023, from 19 million miles away. (Artwork, images, and videos were uploaded to Psyche and stored in its memory before launch.)
“A key goal for the system was to prove that the data-rate reduction was proportional to the inverse square of distance,” said Abi Biswas, the technology demonstration’s project technologist at JPL. “We met that goal and transferred huge quantities of test data to and from the Psyche spacecraft via laser.” Almost 11 terabits of data have been downlinked during the first phase of the demo.
The flight transceiver is powered down and will be powered back up on Nov. 4. That activity will prove that the flight hardware can operate for at least a year.
“We’ll power on the flight laser transceiver and do a short checkout of its functionality,” said Ken Andrews, project flight operations lead at JPL. “Once that’s achieved, we can look forward to operating the transceiver at its full design capabilities during our post-conjunction phase that starts later in the year.”
More About Deep Space Optical Communications
This demonstration is the latest in a series of optical communication experiments funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the agency’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. Development of the flight laser transceiver is supported by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, L3 Harris, CACI, First Mode, and Controlled Dynamics Inc. Fibertek, Coherent, Caltech Optical Observatories, and Dotfast support the ground systems. Some of the technology was developed through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program.
For more information about the laser communications demo, visit:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/dsoc
NASA’s Optical Comms Demo Transmits Data Over 140 Million Miles The NASA Cat Video Explained 5 Things to Know About NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications News Media Contacts
Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Last Updated Oct 03, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
This September saw the completion of a critical milestone for the construction of ESA's new deep space communication antenna in New Norcia, Australia: the lifting of the 122-tonne reflector dish.
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