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By NASA
AMS-02 mounted on the outside of the space station.NASA Visible matter in the form of stars and planets adds up to about five percent of the total known mass of the Universe. The rest is either dark matter, antimatter, or dark energy. The exact nature of these substances is unknown, but the International Space Station’s Alpha-Magnetic Spectrometer or AMS-02 is helping to solve the mystery.
AMS-02 collects data on charged particles from cosmic ray events, which helps scientists understand the origin of those rays and could ultimately reveal whether dark matter and antimatter exist.
To date, the instrument has collected data on about 573 events per second on average – just over 18 billion per year. This high volume of data enables highly precise statistical analyses, and multiple groups of researchers independently process the raw data to ensure accurate results.
Learn more about astrophysics research on the space station.
This view shows the core of AMS-02, a massive magnet that bends particles from space to reveal whether their charge is positive or negative.NASA AMS-02 is the hexagonal shape visible on one of the space station’s trusses, just to the right of the center.NASA Keep Exploring Discover More Topics
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
In a series of baseline flights beginning on June 24, 2024, the G-IV aircraft flew over the Antelope Valley to analyze aircraft performance. To accommodate a new radar instrument developed by JPL, NASA’s Airborne Science Program has selected the Gulfstream-IV aircraft to be modified and operated by Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California and will accommodate new instrumentation on board in support of the agency’s science mission directorate. Baseline flights began at NASA Armstrong in June 2024NASA/Carla Thomas In June 2024, a new tail number swept the sky above NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Pilots conducted flights of a Gulfstream IV (G-IV) to evaluate its handling characteristics and to familiarize pilots with it before it begins structural modifications. The research plane is joining the center’s fleet serving NASA’s Airborne Science program.
The G-IV will carry the Next Generation Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR-NG), which sends and receives microwave signals to collect information about Earth’s topographic features and how they change over time. The goal for the team at NASA Armstrong is to modify the G-IV to accommodate three radars simultaneously.
“The AIRSAR-NG will be composed of three different Synthetic Aperture Radar antennas in one instrument to provide new insight into Earth’s surface more efficiently,” said Yunling Lou, principal investigator for the instrument at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “The capabilities of this new instrument will facilitate new techniques, such as three-dimensional imaging, that will be useful for future space-borne missions.”
With those and other modifications being made, the G-IV will also be able to accommodate an increased load of science instruments, which could enable NASA to support more dynamic airborne science missions.
“This aircraft will aid Armstrong in continuing our long history of supporting airborne science for the agency and maintain the expertise in conducting successful science missions for years to come,” said Franzeska Becker, the G-IV project manager at NASA Armstrong.
Transferred in February from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the G-IV will undergo additional modifications overseen by NASA Armstrong’s team. Their goal is to enrich the agency’s airborne science program by outfitting the aircraft to function as a more capable and versatile research platform.
The knowledge and expertise of professionals at NASA centers like Armstrong (G-IV, ER-2, C-20) and Langley (777, G-III) will help enable the agency to produce a well-defined and airworthy platform for science instruments and airborne science missions.
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Last Updated Aug 29, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactErica HeimLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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By NASA
This view of Jupiter was captured by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s 62nd close flyby of the giant planet on June 13. Citizen scientist Jackie Branc made the image using raw JunoCam data.Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Jackie Branc (CC BY) Using data from the Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC) star tracker cameras aboard NASA’s Juno, this graphic shows the mission’s model for radiation intensity at different points in the spacecraft’s orbit around Jupiter.NASA/JPL-Caltech/DTU Using cameras designed for navigation, scientists count ‘fireflies’ to determine the amount of radiation the spacecraft receives during each orbit of Jupiter.
Scientists with NASA’s Juno mission have developed the first complete 3D radiation map of the Jupiter system. Along with characterizing the intensity of the high-energy particles near the orbit of the icy moon Europa, the map shows how the radiation environment is sculpted by the smaller moons orbiting near Jupiter’s rings.
The work relies on data collected by Juno’s Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC), which was designed and built by the Technical University of Denmark, and the spacecraft’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU), which was built by Leonardo SpA in Florence, Italy. The two datasets complement each other, helping Juno scientists characterize the radiation environment at different energies.
Both the ASC and SRU are low-light cameras designed to assist with deep-space navigation. These types of instruments are on almost all spacecraft. But to get them to operate as radiation detectors, Juno’s science team had to look at the cameras in a whole new light.
“On Juno we try to innovate new ways to use our sensors to learn about nature, and we have used many of our science instruments in ways they were not designed for,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “This is the first detailed radiation map of the region at these higher energies, which is a major step in understanding how Jupiter’s radiation environment works. This will help planning observations for the next generation of missions to the Jovian system.”
Counting Fireflies
Consisting of four star cameras on the spacecraft’s magnetometer boom, Juno’s ASC takes images of stars to determine the spacecraft’s orientation in space, which is vital to the success of the mission’s magnetic field experiment. But the instrument has also proved to be a valuable detector of high-energy particle fluxes in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. The cameras record “hard radiation,” or ionizing radiation that impacts a spacecraft with sufficient energy to pass through the ASC’s shielding.
“Every quarter-second, the ASC takes an image of the stars,” said Juno scientist John Leif Jørgensen of the Technical University of Denmark. “Very energetic electrons that penetrate its shielding leave a telltale signature in our images that looks like the trail of a firefly. The instrument is programmed to count the number of these fireflies, giving us an accurate calculation of the amount of radiation.”
Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022.Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Björn Jónsson (CC BY 3.0) Because of Juno’s ever-changing orbit, the spacecraft has traversed practically all regions of space near Jupiter.
ASC data suggests that there is more very high-energy radiation relative to lower-energy radiation near Europa’s orbit than previously thought. The data also confirms that there are more high-energy electrons on the side of Europa facing its orbital direction of motion than on the moon’s trailing side. This is because most of the electrons in Jupiter’s magnetosphere overtake Europa from behind due to the planet’s rotation, whereas the very high-energy electrons drift backward, almost like fish swimming upstream, and slam into Europa’s front side.
Jovian radiation data is not the ASC’s first scientific contribution to the mission. Even before arriving at Jupiter, ASC data was used to determine a measurement of interstellar dust impacting Juno. The imager also discovered a previously uncharted comet using the same dust-detection technique, distinguishing small bits of the spacecraft ejected by microscopic dust impacting Juno at a high velocity.
Dust Rings
Like Juno’s ASC, the SRU has been used as a radiation detector and a low-light imager. Data from both instruments indicates that, like Europa, the small “shepherd moons” that orbit within or close to the edge of Jupiter’s rings (and help to hold the shape of the rings) also appear to interact with the planet’s radiation environment. When the spacecraft flies on magnetic field lines connected to ring moons or dense dust, the radiation count on both the ASC and SRU drops precipitously. The SRU is also collecting rare low-light images of the rings from Juno’s unique vantage point.
“There is still a lot of mystery about how Jupiter’s rings were formed, and very few images have been collected by prior spacecraft,” said Heidi Becker, lead co-investigator for the SRU and a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission. “Sometimes we’re lucky and one of the small shepherd moons can be captured in the shot. These images allow us to learn more precisely where the ring moons are currently located and see the distribution of dust relative to their distance from Jupiter.”
More About the Mission
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Technical University of Denmark designed and built the Advanced Stellar Compass. The Stellar Reference Unit was built by Leonardo SpA in Florence, Italy. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
More information about Juno is available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/juno
News Media Contacts
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-385-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov
Simon Koefoed Toft
Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen
+45 9137 0088
sito@dtu.dk
Deb Schmid
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
210-522-2254
dschmid@swri.org
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Last Updated Aug 20, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
This artist’s concept depicts one of the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s Tanager satellites, the first of which launched on Aug. 16. Tanager-1 will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at JPL to measure greenhouse gas point-source emissions.Planet Labs PBC Developed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the imaging spectrometer will provide actionable data to help reduce emissions that contribute to global warming.
Tanager-1, the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first satellite, which carries a state-of-the-art, NASA-designed greenhouse-gas-tracking instrument, is in Earth orbit after lifting off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:56 a.m. PDT Friday, Aug. 16. Ground controllers successfully established communications with Tanager-1 at 2:45 p.m. PDT the same day.
The satellite will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to measure methane and carbon dioxide point-source emissions, down to the level of individual facilities and equipment, on a global scale. Tanager-1 was developed as part of a philanthropically funded public-private coalition led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper. Planet Labs PBC, which built Tanager-1, and JPL are both members of the Carbon Mapper Coalition and plan to launch a second Tanager satellite equipped with a JPL-built imaging spectrometer at a later date.
“The imaging spectrometer technology aboard Tanager-1 is the product of four decades of development at NASA JPL and truly in a class of its own,” said JPL Director Laurie Leshin. “The data that this public-private partnership provides on sources of greenhouse gas emissions will be precise and global, making it beneficial to everyone.”
Once in operation, the spacecraft will scan about 50,000 square miles (130,000 square kilometers) of Earth’s surface per day. Carbon Mapper scientists will analyze data from Tanager-1 to identify gas plumes with the unique spectral signatures of methane and carbon dioxide — and pinpoint their sources. Plume data will be publicly available online at the Carbon Mapper data portal.
Methane and carbon dioxide are the greenhouse gases that contribute most to climate change. About half of methane emissions worldwide result from human activities — primarily from the fossil fuel, agriculture, and waste management industries. Meanwhile, there is now 50% more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was in 1750, an increase largely due to the extraction and burning of coal, oil, and gas.
“The Carbon Mapper Coalition is a prime example of how organizations from different sectors are uniting around a common goal of addressing climate change,” said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper CEO. “By detecting, pinpointing, and quantifying super-emitters and making this data accessible to decision-makers, we can drive significant action around the world to cut emissions now.”
The imaging spectrometer aboard the satellite measures hundreds of wavelengths of light that are reflected by Earth’s surface. Different compounds in the planet’s atmosphere — including methane and carbon dioxide — absorb different wavelengths of light, leaving spectral “fingerprints” that the imaging spectrometer can identify. These infrared fingerprints can enable researchers to pinpoint and quantify strong greenhouse gas emissions, potentially accelerating mitigation efforts.
Tanager-1 is part of a broader effort to make methane and carbon dioxide data accessible and actionable. That effort includes using measurements provided by NASA’s EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation), an imaging spectrometer developed by JPL and installed on the International Space Station.
More About Carbon Mapper
Carbon Mapper is a nonprofit organization focused on facilitating timely action to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Its mission is to fill gaps in the emerging global ecosystem of methane and carbon dioxide monitoring systems by delivering data at facility scale that is precise, timely, and accessible to empower science-based decision making and action. The organization is leading the development of the Carbon Mapper constellation of satellites supported by a public-private partnership composed of Planet Labs PBC, JPL, the California Air Resources Board, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and RMI, with funding from High Tide Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, and other philanthropic donors.
News Media Contacts
Andrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-379-6874 / 818-354-0307
andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov / jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov
Kelly Vaughn
Carbon Mapper, Pasadena, Calif.
970-401-0001
kelly@carbonmapper.org
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Last Updated Aug 16, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
This photo shows the Wide Field Instrument for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arriving at the big clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. About the size of a commercial refrigerator, this instrument will help astronomers explore the universe’s evolution and the characteristics of worlds outside our solar system. Unlocking these cosmic mysteries and more will offer a better understanding of the nature of the universe and our place within it.NASA/Chris Gunn The primary instrument for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a sophisticated camera that will survey the cosmos from the outskirts of our solar system all the way out to the edge of the observable universe. Called the Wide Field Instrument, it was recently delivered to the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The camera’s large field of view, sharp resolution, and sensitivity from visible to near-infrared wavelengths will give Roman a deep, panoramic view of the universe. Scanning much larger portions of the sky than astronomers can with NASA’s Hubble or James Webb space telescopes will open new avenues of cosmic exploration. Roman is designed to study dark energy (a mysterious cosmic pressure thought to accelerate the universe’s expansion), dark matter (invisible matter seen only via its gravitational influence), and exoplanets (worlds beyond our solar system).
“This instrument will turn signals from space into a new understanding of how our universe works,” said Julie McEnery, the Roman senior project scientist at Goddard. “To achieve its main goals, the mission will precisely measure hundreds of millions of galaxies. That’s quite a dataset for all kinds of researchers to pull from, so there will be a flood of results on a vast array of science.”
Technicians inspect NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Wide Field Instrument upon delivery to the big clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.NASA/Chris Gunn About 1,000 people contributed to the Wide Field Instrument’s development, from the initial design phase to assembling it from around a million individual components. The WFI’s design was a collaborative effort between Goddard and BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. Teledyne Imaging Sensors, Hawaii Aerospace Corporation, Applied Aerospace Structures Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Honeybee Robotics, CDA Intercorp, Alluxa, and JenOptik provided critical components. Those parts and many more, made by other vendors, were delivered to Goddard and BAE Systems, where they were assembled and tested prior to the instrument’s delivery to Goddard this month.
“I am so happy to be delivering this amazing instrument,” said Mary Walker, Roman’s Wide Field Instrument manager at Goddard. “All the years of hard work and the team’s dedication have brought us to this exciting moment.”
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a next-generation observatory that will survey the infrared universe from beyond the orbit of the Moon. The spacecraft’s giant camera, the Wide Field Instrument, will be fundamental to this exploration. Data it gathers will enable scientists to discover new and uniquely detailed information about planetary systems around other stars. The instrument will also map how matter is structured and distributed throughout the cosmos, which could ultimately allow scientists to discover the fate of the universe. Watch this video to see a simplified version of how the Wide Field Instrument works.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Seeing the Bigger Picture
After Roman launches by May 2027, each of the Wide Field Instrument’s 300-million-pixel images will capture a patch of the sky bigger than the apparent size of a full moon. The instrument’s large field of view will enable sweeping celestial surveys, revealing billions of cosmic objects across vast stretches of time and space. Astronomers will conduct research that could take hundreds of years using other telescopes.
And by observing from space, Roman’s camera will be very sensitive to infrared light –– light with longer wavelengths than our eyes can see –– from far across the cosmos. This ancient cosmic light will help scientists address some of the biggest cosmic mysteries, one of which is how the universe evolved to its present state.
From the telescope, light’s path through the instrument begins by passing through one of several optical elements in a large wheel. These elements include filters, which allow specific wavelengths of light to pass through, and a grism and prism, which split light into all of its individual colors. These detailed patterns, called spectra, reveal information about the object that emitted the light.
Then, the light travels on toward the camera’s set of 18 detectors, which each contain 16 million pixels. The large number of detectors and pixels gives Roman its large field of view. The instrument is designed for accurate, stable images and exquisite precision in measuring the exact amount of light in every pixel of every image, giving Roman unprecedented power to study dark energy. The detectors will be held at about minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 184 degrees Celsius) to increase sensitivity to the infrared universe.
“When the light reaches the detectors, that marks the end of what may have been a 10-billion-year journey through space,” said Art Whipple, an aerospace engineer at Goddard who has contributed to the Wide Field Instrument’s design and construction for more than a decade.
Once Roman begins observing, its rapid data delivery will require new analysis techniques.
“If we had every astronomer on Earth working on Roman data, there still wouldn’t be nearly enough people to go through it all,” McEnery said. “We’re looking at modern techniques like machine learning and artificial intelligence to help sift through Roman’s observations and find where the most exciting things are.”
Now that the Wide Field Instrument is at Goddard, it will be tested to ensure everything is operating as expected. It will be integrated onto the instrument carrier and mated to the telescope this fall, bringing scientists one step closer to making groundbreaking discoveries for decades to come.
One panel on the Wide Field Instrument for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope contains hundreds of names of team members who helped design and build the instrument.BAE Systems To virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope, visit:
https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/interactive
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
By Ashley Balzer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media contact:
Claire Andreoli
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1940
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Last Updated Aug 13, 2024 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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