Jump to content

EarthCARE takes a big stretch


Recommended Posts

EarthCARE solar wing deployed

ESA’s upcoming EarthCARE satellite mission has just taken a big stretch. Engineers have gently unfolded this new satellite’s huge five-panel solar wing to test that it will deploy correctly once it is in space. The solar wing is a critical part of the satellite, providing the energy for EarthCARE to do its job: to quantify the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere.

View the full article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      2 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) scientific balloon mission launched Sept. 4, 2024, during NASA’s fall balloon campaign in Fort Sumner, N.M.NASA/Erin Reed NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program’s fifth balloon mission of the 2024 fall campaign took flight Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, from the agency’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform) mission remained in flight over 11 hours before it safely touched down. Recovery is underway.
      HASP is a partnership among the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, the Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, and the agency’s Balloon Program Office and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. The HASP platform supports up to 12 student-built payloads and is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes, and other small experiments. Since 2006, HASP has engaged more than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students involved in the missions.
      Teams participating in the 2024 HASP 1.0 flight included: University of North Florida and University of North Dakota; Arizona State University; Louisiana State University; University of Colorado Boulder; College of the Canyons; Fort Lewis College; Capitol Technical College; University of Arizona; Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (Peru); and McMaster University (Canada).
      A new, larger version of the High-Altitude Student Platform (HASP 2.0) had its engineering test flight a few days prior. HASP 2.0 will be able to accommodate twice as many student experiments as HASP 1.0 once operational in the next year.
      The remaining three balloon flights scheduled for the 2024 Fort Sumner fall campaign await next launch opportunities. To follow the missions, visit NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website for real-time updates on balloons altitudes and GPS locations during flight.
      For more information on NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, visit:
      https://www.nasa.gov/scientificballoons
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Sep 06, 2024 EditorOlivia F. LittletonContactOlivia F. Littletonolivia.f.littleton@nasa.gov Related Terms
      Learning Resources Scientific Balloons Wallops Flight Facility View the full article
    • By NASA
      5 Min Read Webb Finds Early Galaxies Weren’t Too Big for Their Britches After All
      This image shows a small portion of the field observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. The full image appears below. Credits:
      NASA, ESA, CSA, S. Finkelstein (University of Texas) It got called the crisis in cosmology. But now astronomers can explain some surprising recent discoveries.
      When astronomers got their first glimpses of galaxies in the early universe from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, they were expecting to find galactic pipsqueaks, but instead they found what appeared to be a bevy of Olympic bodybuilders. Some galaxies appeared to have grown so massive, so quickly, that simulations couldn’t account for them. Some researchers suggested this meant that something might be wrong with the theory that explains what the universe is made of and how it has evolved since the big bang, known as the standard model of cosmology.
      According to a new study in the Astrophysical Journal led by University of Texas at Austin graduate student Katherine Chworowsky, some of those early galaxies are in fact much less massive than they first appeared. Black holes in some of these galaxies make them appear much brighter and bigger than they really are.
      “We are still seeing more galaxies than predicted, although none of them are so massive that they ‘break’ the universe,” Chworowsky said.
      The evidence was provided by Webb’s Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, led by Steven Finkelstein, a professor of astronomy at UT Austin and study co-author.
      Image A : CEERS Deep Field (NIRCam)
      This image shows a small portion of the field observed by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. It is filled with galaxies. Some galaxies appear to have grown so massive, so quickly, that simulations couldn’t account for them. However, a new study finds that some of those early galaxies are in fact much less massive than they first appeared. Black holes in some of those galaxies make them appear much brighter and bigger than they really are. NASA, ESA, CSA, S. Finkelstein (University of Texas)
      View 8k pixel full resolution version of the image

      Black Holes Add to Brightness
      According to this latest study, the galaxies that appeared overly massive likely host black holes rapidly consuming gas. Friction in the fast-moving gas emits heat and light, making these galaxies much brighter than they would be if that light emanated just from stars. This extra light can make it appear that the galaxies contain many more stars, and hence are more massive, than we would otherwise estimate. When scientists remove these galaxies, dubbed “little red dots” (based on their red color and small size), from the analysis, the remaining early galaxies are not too massive to fit within predictions of the standard model.
      “So, the bottom line is there is no crisis in terms of the standard model of cosmology,” Finkelstein said. “Any time you have a theory that has stood the test of time for so long, you have to have overwhelming evidence to really throw it out. And that’s simply not the case.”
      Efficient Star Factories
      Although they’ve settled the main dilemma, a less thorny problem remains: There are still roughly twice as many massive galaxies in Webb’s data of the early universe than expected from the standard model. One possible reason might be that stars formed more quickly in the early universe than they do today.
      “Maybe in the early universe, galaxies were better at turning gas into stars,” Chworowsky said.
      Star formation happens when hot gas cools enough to succumb to gravity and condense into one or more stars. But as the gas contracts, it heats up, generating outward pressure. In our region of the universe, the balance of these opposing forces tends to make the star formation process very slow. But perhaps, according to some theories, because the early universe was denser than today, it was harder to blow gas out during star formation, allowing the process to go faster.
      More Evidence of Black Holes
      Concurrently, astronomers have been analyzing the spectra of “little red dots” discovered with Webb, with researchers in both the CEERS team and others finding evidence of fast-moving hydrogen gas, a signature of black hole accretion disks. This supports the idea that at least some of the light coming from these compact, red objects comes from gas swirling around black holes, rather than stars – reinforcing Chworowsky and their team’s conclusion that they are probably not as massive as astronomers initially thought.  However, further observations of these intriguing objects are incoming, and should help solve the puzzle about how much light comes from stars versus gas around black holes.
      Often in science, when you answer one question, that leads to new questions. While Chworowsky and their colleagues have shown that the standard model of cosmology likely isn’t broken, their work points to the need for new ideas in star formation.
      “And so there is still that sense of intrigue,” Chworowsky said. “Not everything is fully understood. That’s what makes doing this kind of science fun, because it’d be a terribly boring field if one paper figured everything out, or there were no more questions to answer.”The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
      Downloads
      Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu.
      View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
      View/Download the research results from the Astrophysical Journal .
      Media Contacts
      Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Marc Airhart – mairhart@austin.utexas.edu
      University of Texas at Austin
      Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
      Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
      Related Information
      VIDEO: CEERS Fly-through data visualization
      ARTICLE: Webb Science – Galaxies Through Time
      INFOGRAPHIC: Learn More about black holes
      VIDEO: Webb Science Snippets Video: “The Early Universe”
      INFOGRAPHIC: What is Cosmological Redshift?
      More Webb News
      More Webb Images
      Webb Science Themes
      Webb Mission Page
      Related For Kids
      What is a galaxy?
      What is the Webb Telescope?
      SpacePlace for Kids
      En Español
      Para Niños : Qué es una galaxia?
      Ciencia de la NASA
      NASA en español 
      Space Place para niños
      Keep Exploring Related Topics
      James Webb Space Telescope


      Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…


      Exoplanets



      Exoplanet Stories



      Universe


      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Aug 26, 2024 Editor Stephen Sabia Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
      Astrophysics Galaxies Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Science & Research The Universe View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      Launched in May, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has been making waves, with the first images from three of its scientific instruments already delivered. Now, the spotlight is firmly on the atmospheric lidar, the most advanced of the satellite’s four instruments.
      This cutting-edge sensor has captured detailed 20 km-high vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosols – tiny particles and droplets from natural sources like wildfires, dust, and sea spray, and from human activities like industrial emissions or burning of wood – and clouds across various regions of the globe.
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      NASA/Daniel Casper A NASA photographer captured this gopher tortoise walking on the Launch Pad 39B beach road at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 4, 2014.
      The undeveloped property on Kennedy Space Center is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge provides a habitat for 14 species federally listed as threatened or endangered, including the leatherback, green, Kemps Ridley, loggerhead and Atlantic hawksbill turtles.
      Image Credit: NASA/Daniel Casper
      View the full article
    • By NASA
      Through a nonlinear path to success, research astrophysicist Tyler Parsotan discovers transformational science using Swift’s observations. 
      Name: Tyler Parsotan
      Formal Job Classification: Research astrophysicist
      Organization: Astroparticle Physics Laboratory (Code 661), Astrophysics Science Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate 
      Dr. Tyler Parsotan is a research astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. He helps operate the Bust Alert Telescope on board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Courtesy of Tyler Parsotan What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? 
      I help operate the Burst Alert Telescope on board the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to study some of the most powerful astrophysical processes in the universe. What is most interesting is the engineering capabilities that have gone into the spacecraft to make it nimble and robust, allowing it to conduct a wide range of transformative science. 
      Why did you become an astrophysicist?
      Ever since I was young, I was fascinated with the stars and how the world worked. All of this led me to physics with a focus on astrophysics. That is how I got into what I am doing now.
      What is your educational background?
      In 2015, I got a Bachelor of Science in space physics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 2019, I got a master’s in physics from Oregon State University, Corvallis, and in 2020 I got a master’s in mechanical engineering also from Oregon State University. In 2021, I got a doctorate in physics from Oregon State University. 
      When I first applied to graduate school, I did not get into any. I was fortunate enough to learn about Oregon State University though a program geared towards allowing underrepresented students in STEM fields to get graduate degrees. This program, known as the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, played a pivotal role in me being able to attend graduate school . 
      Are you also a pilot?
      Yes, I am. While I was in Oregon as a graduate student, I was able to save up enough money to get my private pilot’s license over the course of one summer from the local Corvallis airport. I would bike to the airport and get in a plane to fly all over Oregon from the coast to the Cascade Mountains. It was a very cool experience. 
      How did you come to Goddard?
      I did a post-doctorate fellowship starting the fall of 2021 through May 2023. My doctoral research was related to one of Swift’s many science focuses, so I wanted to continue my work at Goddard. 
      What transformational science have you been involved with using Swift’s observations?
      Some of the science that Swift focuses on is related to the transient universe, meaning that we primarily look at astrophysical events that come and go very quickly and typically produce a ton of energy. Swift examines the light energy produced from black holes, the majority of which are eating mass from black stars. 
      While at Oregon State University, I studied the most energetic events in the universe known as gamma-ray bursts. I am now studying gamma-ray bursts at Goddard. One of the big discoveries made by Swift is that these gamma ray bursts can be seen out to early times in the universe. Some of these explosions occurred when the universe was very young, only 100,000 years old or so. Because the universe is expanding, it takes that light some time to travel to us. With Swift, we detect that light and can make some measurements about the gamma-ray bursts, such as when they occurred, how much energy they produced in these massive explosions, and some of the properties of the early universe. 
      “There are no linear paths to success,” said Tyler. “Keep looking for a way to be successful. This advice applies to life overall.”Courtesy of Tyler Parsotan What is the biggest discovery you have been involved with and what do you love most about working on Swift?
      We are simulating the gamma-ray bursts, which was a focus of my doctorate. We cannot yet actually see these explosions, so we have to simulate them using the physics that we now know. I have been able to connect some of the large simulations to the Swift observations and measurements. This helps us better understand the underlying physics of these powerful explosions. 
      The amount of energy produced in a typical gamma-ray burst is enough to blow up the Sun a few times over.
      Lots of people know about Hubble, which observes the light that we can see with our eyes. The light that I deal with, gamma rays, has much higher energy and cannot be seen with our eyes. We have to use different techniques to measure this light. Designing detectors to measure this light is challenging technically but means that this area of physics is ripe for discovery. I love being part of this. 
      Swift will be 20 years old in November 2024. As a relative newcomer to Swift, what are your thoughts?
      I think Swift is a great observatory because it has conducted lots of transformational science, drastically expanding our knowledge of the cosmos. Even though it is getting older, it is still able to push science forward in new and exciting ways. I am looking forward to helping the Swift mission celebrate 20 years of amazing science. 
      What is your advice to anyone starting and continuing a career?
      There are no linear paths to success. Keep looking for a way to be successful. This advice applies to life overall. 
      Are you involved in any of Goddard’s extracurricular activities?
      I recently joined Goddard’s soccer league. Everyone at Goddard self organizes into teams that play each other after work during the week. We play about a game a week. The winning team gets bragging rights. I mostly play defense. Being on a team is a good way to meet people at Goddard and to stay active. 
      In addition to soccer, what are your hobbies?
      I enjoy hiking, mountain biking, and generally being outdoors. 
      Where do you see yourself in five years?
      I hope to still be at Goddard. I enjoy the type of work and the overall work environment. If Swift continues another five years, hopefully I’ll be working on it and also helping to create the next generation of gamma-ray observatories to help push science forward. We are making the science that will be in the next textbooks. 
      Who do you want to thank?
      My doctoral supervisor Davide Lazzati was an extremely supportive mentor and pushed me to be the best scientist that I can be. Since I arrived at Goddard, we have been good colleagues. 
      My former mentor and supervisor at Goddard is Brad Cenko, the Swift principal investigator. I am grateful that he hired me and allowed me to grow as a post-doctoral researcher.
      I also want to thank my entire family for being extremely supportive and understanding even though they may not fully understand what I really do. 
      Who is your science hero?
      Copernicus. He put forward the theory that our solar system orbits the Sun. He was obviously very instrumental in changing the way we think about the cosmos. He got into a lot of trouble with his theory, which makes his accomplishments all the more important. 
      By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Aug 20, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
      People of Goddard Goddard Space Flight Center Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory People of NASA Explore More
      7 min read Bindu Rani Explores Black Holes, Mothers Hard, Balances Life
      Article 2 weeks ago 4 min read Regina Caputo Charts the Future of High-Energy Astrophysics
      Article 2 weeks ago 6 min read Rebekah Hounsell: Tracking Cosmic Light to Untangle the Universe’s Darkest Mysteries
      Article 1 month ago View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...