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By European Space Agency
In a world first, ESA and Telesat have successfully connected a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite to the ground using 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) technology in the Ka-band frequency range, marking a crucial step towards making space-based connections as simple as using a mobile phone.
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By NASA
Caption: Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub from Roscosmos is pictured during a spacewalk to inspect a backup radiator, deploy a nanosatellite, and install communications hardware on the International Space Station’s Nauka science module.Credit: NASA NASA will provide live coverage as two Roscosmos cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station on Thursday, Dec. 19.
NASA’s live coverage begins at 9:45 a.m. EST, Thursday on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at approximately 10:10 a.m. and last about six and a half hours.
Expedition 72 crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner will venture outside the station’s Poisk module to install an experiment package designed to monitor celestial x-ray sources and new electrical connector patch panels and remove several experiments for disposal. The two cosmonauts also will relocate a control panel for the European robotic arm, which is attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexsandr Gorbunov will operate the arm during the spacewalk from inside the station.
Roscosmos spacewalk 63 will be the second for Ovchinin and the first for Vagner. Ovchinin will wear an Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, and Vagner will wear a spacesuit with blue stripes. It will be the 272nd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
Get breaking news, images, and features from the space station on the station blog, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Learn more about the International Space Station at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
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Claire O’Shea / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Dec 17, 2024 LocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Missions View the full article
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The UAVSAR underbelly pod is in clear view as NASA’s Gulfstream-III research aircraft banks away over Edwards AFBNASA On a changing planet, where phenomena like severe hurricanes, landslides, and wildfires are becoming more severe, scientists need data to assess and model disaster impacts and to potentially make predictions about hazards. NASA’s C-20A aircraft is a significant asset that can carry key instruments for understanding the science behind these phenomena.
Based at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, the C-20A is a military version of the Gulfstream III business jet and operates as an airborne science aircraft for a variety of Earth science research missions.
In October, the plane was deployed to fly over areas affected by Hurricane Milton. With winds of up to 120 miles per hour, the hurricane hit the Florida coast as a category 3 storm, and produced lightning, heavy rainfall, and a series of tornadoes. In the aftermath of the storm, the C-20A was outfitted with the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) instrument to collect detailed data about the affected flood areas.
“Our team focused specifically on inland river flooding near dense populations, collecting data that could help inform disaster response and preparation in the future,” said Starr Ginn, C-20A aircraft project manager. “By all indications, this rapid response to support Hurricane Milton recovery efforts was a successful coordination of efforts by science and aircraft teams.”
The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar, UAVSAR, is prepared for installation onto NASA’s C-20A aircraft. THE UAVSAR uses a technique called interferometry to detect and measure very subtle deformations in the Earth’s surface, and the pod is specially designed to be interoperable with unmanned aircraft in the future. It will gather data from Gabon, Africa in September of 2023.NASA/Steve Freeman The UAVSAR was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and uses a technique called interferometry to detect subtle changes to Earth’s surface. Interferometry uses the intersection of multiple wavelengths to make precise measurements. This detection system effectively measures the terrain changes or impacts before and after an extreme natural event.
When flown onboard an aircraft, radars like the UAVSAR can also provide more detail than satellite radars. “Where satellite instruments might only get a measurement every one to two weeks, the UAVSAR can fill in points between satellite passes to calibrate ground-based instruments,” Ginn said. “It takes data at faster rates and with more precision. We can design overlapping flights in three or more directions to detect more textures and motions on the Earth’s surface. This is a big advantage over the one-dimensional line-of-sight measurement provided by a single flight.”
The C-20A team also used the UAVSAR in October to investigate the Portuguese Bend landslide in Rancho Pales Verdes. The Portuguese Bend Landslide began in the mid- to late-Pleistocene period over 11,000 years ago. Though inactive for thousands of years, the landslide was reactivated in 1956 when a road construction project added weight to the top of it. Recently, the landslide has been moving at increasing rates during dry seasons.
NASA’s JPL scientists, Xiang Li, Alexander Handwerger, Gilles Peltzer, and Eric Fielding have been researching this landslide progression using satellite-based instruments. “The high-resolution capability of UAVSAR is ideal for landslides since they have relatively small features,” said Ginn. “This helps us understand the different characteristics of the landslide body.”
NASA flew an aircraft equipped with Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) flew above California fires on Sept. 3 and 10, 2020.NASA/JPL-Caltech The C-20A airborne observatory also provided crucial insight for studies of wildfire. The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE), a multi-agency experiment led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, included flights of the C-20A. This experiment studied fire behavior and smoke.
“The airborne perspective allows FASMEE researchers to better understand fire behavior and smoke production,” said Michael Falkowski, program manager for NASA’s Applied Sciences Wildland Fire program. “Hopefully this data will help mitigate fire risk, restore degraded ecosystems, and protect human communities from catastrophic fire.”
Airborne data can inform how scientists and experts understand extreme phenomena on the ground. Researchers on the FASMEE experiment will use the data collected from the UAVSAR instrument to map the forest’s composition and moisture to track areas impacted by the fire, and to study how the fire progressed.
“We can explore how fire managers can use airborne data to help make decisions about fires,” added Jacquelyn Shuman, FireSense project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
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Last Updated Dec 04, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactErica HeimLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center C-20A Earth Science Earth's Atmosphere Jet Propulsion Laboratory Explore More
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
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A 3D simulation showing the evolution of turbulent flows in the upper layers of the Sun. The more saturated and bright reds represent the most vigorous upward or downward twisting motions. Clear areas represent areas where there is only relatively slow up-flows, with very little twisting.NASA/Irina Kitiashvili and Timothy A. Sandstrom NASA supercomputers are shedding light on what causes some of the Sun’s most complex behaviors. Using data from the suite of active Sun-watching spacecraft currently observing the star at the heart of our solar system, researchers can explore solar dynamics like never before.
The animation shows the strength of the turbulent motions of the Sun’s inner layers as materials twist into its atmosphere, resembling a roiling pot of boiling water or a flurry of schooling fish sending material bubbling up to the surface or diving it further down below.
“Our simulations use what we call a realistic approach, which means we include as much as we know to-date about solar plasma to reproduce different phenomena observed with NASA space missions,” said Irina Kitiashvili, a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley who helped lead the study.
Using modern computational capabilities, the team was able, for the first time to reproduce the fine structures of the subsurface layer observed with NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
“Right now, we don’t have the computational capabilities to create realistic global models of the entire Sun due to the complexity,” said Kitiashvili. “Therefore, we create models of smaller areas or layers, which can show us structures of the solar surface and atmosphere – like shock waves or tornado-like features measuring only a few miles in size; that’s much finer detail than any one spacecraft can resolve.”
Scientists seek to better understand the Sun and what phenomena drive the patterns of its activity. The connection and interactions between the Sun and Earth drive the seasons, ocean currents, weather, climate, radiation belts, auroras and many other phenomena. Space weather predictions are critical for exploration of space, supporting the spacecraft and astronauts of NASA’s Artemis campaign. Surveying this space environment is a vital part of understanding and mitigating astronaut exposure to space radiation and keeping our spacecraft and instruments safe.
This has been a big year for our special star, studded with events like the annular eclipse, a total eclipse, and the Sun reaching its solar maximum period. In December 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission – which is helping researchers to understand space weather right at the source – will make its closest-ever approach to the Sun and beat its own record of being the closest human-made object to reach the Sun.
The Sun keeps surprising us. We are looking forward to seeing what kind of exciting events will be organized by the Sun."
Irina Kitiashvili
NASA Scientist
“The Sun keeps surprising us,” said Kitiashvili. “We are looking forward to seeing what kind of exciting events will be organized by the Sun.”
These simulations were run on the Pleaides supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA Ames over several weeks of runtime, generating terabytes of data.
NASA is showcasing 29 of the agency’s computational achievements at SC24, the international supercomputing conference, Nov. 17-22, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. For more technical information, visit:
https://www.nas.nasa.gov/sc24
For news media: Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
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Last Updated Nov 21, 2024 Related Terms
General Ames Research Center Heliophysics Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Sunspots The Sun Explore More
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By NASA
The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress spacecraft pictured on Feb. 7, 2023, from the International Space Station.Credit: NASA NASA will provide live launch and docking coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft delivering nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station.
The unpiloted Progress 90 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 7:22 a.m. EST (5:22 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, Nov. 21, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Live launch coverage will begin at 7 a.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
After a two-day in-orbit journey to the station, the spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the orbiting laboratory’s Poisk module at 9:35 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 23. NASA’s coverage of rendezvous and docking will begin at 8:45 a.m. on NASA+ and the agency’s website.
The Progress 88 spacecraft will undock from the Poisk module on Tuesday, Nov. 19. NASA will not stream undocking.
The spacecraft will remain docked at the station for approximately six months before departing for a re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation that enables research not possible on Earth. For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, through which astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including missions to the Moon under Artemis and, ultimately, human exploration of Mars.
Get breaking news, images and features from the space station on Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and its crew, at:
https://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Claire O’Shea / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Nov 18, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
International Space Station (ISS) Humans in Space ISS Research Johnson Space Center View the full article
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