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By NASA
NASA Blue mach diamonds from the main engine nozzles and bright exhaust from the solid rocket boosters mark the successful launch of space shuttle Endeavour 25 years ago on Feb. 11, 2000. The STS-99 mission crew – including astronauts from NASA, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), and the European Space Agency (ESA) – were aboard the shuttle.
This mission saw the deployment of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mast and the antenna turned to its operation position. After a successful checkout of the radar systems, mapping began less than 12 hours after launch. Crewmembers split into two shifts so they could work around the clock.
Also aboard Endeavour was a student experiment called EarthKAM, which took 2,715 digital photos during the mission through an overhead flight-deck window. The NASA-sponsored program lets middle school students select photo targets and receive the images via the Internet.
Image credit: NASA
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA 3D-Printed Antenna Takes Additive Manufacturing to New Heights
The 3D-printed antenna mounted to a ladder prior to testing at NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas. Credits: NASA/Peter Moschetti In fall 2024, NASA developed and tested a 3D-printed antenna to demonstrate a low-cost capability to communicate science data to Earth. The antenna, tested in flight using an atmospheric weather balloon, could open the door for using 3D printing as a cost-effective development solution for the ever-increasing number of science and exploration missions.
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NASA developed and tested a 3D-printed antenna to demonstrate a low-cost capability to communicate science data to Earth.NASA/Kasey Dillahay Printing
For this technology demonstration, engineers from NASA’s Near Space Network designed and built a 3D-printed antenna, tested it with the network’s relay satellites, and then flew it on a weather balloon.
The 3D printing process, also known as additive manufacturing, creates a physical object from a digital model by adding multiple layers of material on top of each other, usually as a liquid, powder, or filament. The bulk of the 3D-printed antenna uses a low electrical resistance, tunable, ceramic-filled polymer material.
Using a printer supplied by Fortify, the team had full control over several of the electromagnetic and mechanical properties that standard 3D printing processes do not. Once NASA acquired the printer, this technology enabled the team to design and print an antenna for the balloon in a matter of hours. Teams printed the conductive part of the antenna with one of several different conductive ink printers used during the experiment.
For this technology demonstration, the network team designed and built a 3D-printed magneto-electric dipole antenna and flew it on a weather balloon. [JF1] A dipole antenna is commonly used in radio and telecommunications. The antenna has two “poles,” creating a radiation pattern similar to a donut shape.
Testing
The antenna, a collaboration between engineers within NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program and the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, was created to showcase the capabilities of low-cost design and manufacturing.
Following manufacturing, the antenna was assembled and tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in the center’s electromagnetic anechoic chamber.
The anechoic chamber is the quietest room at Goddard — a shielded space designed and constructed to both resist intrusive electromagnetic waves and suppress their emission to the outside world. This chamber eliminates echoes and reflections of electromagnetic waves to simulate the relative “quiet” of space.
To prepare for testing, NASA intern Alex Moricette installed the antenna onto the mast of the anechoic chamber. The antenna development team used the chamber to test its performance in a space-like environment and ensure it functioned as intended.
NASA Goddard’s anechoic chamber eliminates echoes and reflections of electromagnetic waves to simulate the relative “quiet” of space. Here, the antenna is installed on the mast of the anechoic chamber.NASA/Peter Moschetti Once completed, NASA antenna engineers conducted final field testing at NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, before liftoff.
The team coordinated links with the Near Space Network’s relay fleet to test the 3D-printed antenna’s ability to send and receive data.
The team monitored performance by sending signals to and from the 3D-printed antenna and the balloon’s planned communications system, a standard satellite antenna. Both antennas were tested at various angles and elevations. By comparing the 3D-printed antenna with the standard antenna, they established a baseline for optimal performance.
Field testing was performed at NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, prior to liftoff. To do this, the 3D-printed antenna was mounted to a ladder.NASA/Peter Moschetti In the Air
During flight, the weather balloon and hosted 3D-printed antenna were tested for environmental survivability at 100,000 feet and were safely recovered.
For decades, NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program, managed by NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, has used balloons to carry science payloads into the atmosphere. Weather balloons carry instruments that measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and direction. The information gathered is transmitted back to a ground station for mission use.
The demonstration revealed the team’s anticipated results: that with rapid prototyping and production capabilities of 3D printing technology, NASA can create high-performance communication antennas tailored to mission specifications faster than ever before.
Implementing these modern technological advancements is vital for NASA, not only to reduce costs for legacy platforms but also to enable future missions.
The Near Space Network is funded by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The network is operated out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
By Kendall Murphy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
About the Author
Kendall Murphy
Technical WriterKendall Murphy is a technical writer for the Space Communications and Navigation program office. She specializes in internal and external engagement, educating readers about space communications and navigation technology.
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Last Updated Jan 22, 2025 EditorGoddard Digital TeamContactKendall Murphykendall.t.murphy@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Manufacturing, Materials, 3-D Printing Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Balloons Space Communications & Navigation Program Space Communications Technology Technology Explore More
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By European Space Agency
With ESA’s EarthCARE satellite and four measuring instruments all working extremely well and fully commissioned, the mission’s ‘first level’ data stream is now freely available.
By combining data from all four instruments, scientists ultimately aim to address a critical Earth science question: how do clouds and aerosols affect the heating and cooling of our atmosphere?
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By NASA
3 min read
NASA Solar Observatory Sees Coronal Loops Flicker Before Big Flares
For decades, scientists have tried in vain to accurately predict solar flares — intense bursts of light on the Sun that can send a flurry of charged particles into the solar system. Now, using NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, one team has identified flickering loops in the solar atmosphere, or corona, that seem to signal when the Sun is about to unleash a large flare.
These warning signs could help NASA and other stakeholders protect astronauts as well as technology both in space and on the ground from hazardous space weather.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of coronal loops above an active region on the Sun in mid-January 2012. The image was taken in the 171 angstrom wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory Led by heliophysicist Emily Mason of Predictive Sciences Inc. in San Diego, California, the team studied arch-like structures called coronal loops along the edge of the Sun. Coronal loops rise from magnetically driven active regions on the Sun, where solar flares also originate.
The team looked at coronal loops near 50 strong solar flares, analyzing how their brightness in extreme ultraviolet light varied in the hours before a flare compared to loops above non-flaring regions. Like flashing warning lights, the loops above flaring regions varied much more than those above non-flaring regions.
“We found that some of the extreme ultraviolet light above active regions flickers erratically for a few hours before a solar flare,” Mason explained. “The results are really important for understanding flares and may improve our ability to predict dangerous space weather.”
Published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters in December 2024 and presented on Jan. 15, 2025, at a press conference during the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, the results also hint that the flickering reaches a peak earlier for stronger flares. However, the team says more observations are needed to confirm this link.
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The four panels in this movie show brightness changes in coronal loops in four different wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light (131, 171, 193, and 304 angstroms) before a solar flare in December 2011. The images were taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and processed to reveal flickering in the coronal loops. NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory/JHelioviewer/E. Mason Other researchers have tried to predict solar flares by examining magnetic fields on the Sun, or by looking for consistent trends in other coronal loop features. However, Mason and her colleagues believe that measuring the brightness variations in coronal loops could provide more precise warnings than those methods — signaling oncoming flares 2 to 6 hours ahead of time with 60 to 80 percent accuracy.
“A lot of the predictive schemes that have been developed are still predicting the likelihood of flares in a given time period and not necessarily exact timing,” said team member Seth Garland of the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Each solar flare is like a snowflake — every single flare is unique.
Kara kniezewski
Air Force Institute of Technology
“The Sun’s corona is a dynamic environment, and each solar flare is like a snowflake — every single flare is unique,” said team member Kara Kniezewski, a graduate student at the Air Force Institute of Technology and lead author of the paper. “We find that searching for periods of ‘chaotic’ behavior in the coronal loop emission, rather than specific trends, provide a much more consistent metric and may also correlate with how strong a flare will be.”
The scientists hope their findings about coronal loops can eventually be used to help keep astronauts, spacecraft, electrical grids, and other assets safe from the harmful radiation that accompanies solar flares. For example, an automated system could look for brightness changes in coronal loops in real-time images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and issue alerts.
“Previous work by other researchers reports some interesting prediction metrics,” said co-author Vadim Uritsky of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Catholic University of Washington in D.C. “We could build on this and come up with a well-tested and, ideally, simpler indicator ready for the leap from research to operations.”
By Vanessa Thomas
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jan 15, 2025 Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Heliophysics Division Space Weather The Sun Explore More
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By NASA
NASA/Steve Freeman On Oct. 22, 2024, the latest iteration of an atmospheric probe developed by researchers at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, successfully completed a test flight. Building on NASA 1960s research on lifting body aircraft, which use the aircraft’s shape for lift instead of wings, the concept could offer future scientists a potentially better and more economical way to collect data on other planets. Testing demonstrated the shape of the probe works.
The atmospheric probe flew after release from a quad-rotor remotely piloted aircraft above Rogers Dry Lake, a flight area adjacent to NASA Armstrong. “I’m ecstatic,” said John Bodylski, atmospheric probe principal investigator at NASA Armstrong. “It was completely stable in flight. We will be looking at releasing it from a higher altitude to keep it flying longer and demonstrate more maneuvers.”
See more photos from the test flight.
Image credit: Steve Freeman
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