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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sols 4439-4440: A Lunar New Year on Mars
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image, which includes the prominent wedge-shaped block in the foreground, the imaging target dubbed “Vasquez Rocks” — named after a site in Southern California that’s been a popular filming location for movies and television, including several episodes of “Star Trek.” Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on sol 4437 — Martian day 4,437 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Jan. 29, 2025, at 04:25:25 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025
We’re planning sols 4439 and 4440 on the first day of the Lunar New Year here on Earth, and I’m the Geology/Mineralogy Science Theme Lead for today. The new year is a time for all kinds of abundance and good luck, and we are certainly lucky to be celebrating another new year on Mars with the Curiosity rover!
The rover’s current position is on the north side of the “Texoli” butte west of the “Rustic Canyon” crater, and we are on our way southwest through the layered sulfate unit toward a possible boxwork structure that we hope to study later this year. Today’s workspace included a couple of representative bedrock blocks with contrasting textures, so we planned an APXS elemental chemistry measurement on one (“Deer Springs”) and a LIBS elemental measurement on another (“Taco Peak”).
For imaging, there were quite a few targets in view making it possible to advance a variety of science goals. The ChemCam remote imager was used for a mosaic on “Wilkerson Butte” to observe the pattern of resistant and recessive layering. Mastcam mosaics explored some distant landforms (“Sandstone Peak,” “Wella’s Peak”) as well as fractures, block shapes and textures, and aeolian ripples closer to the rover (“Tahquitz Peak,” “Mount Islip,” “Vasquez Rocks,” “Dawson Saddle”). Our regular environmental science measurements were made as well, to track atmospheric opacity and dust activity. So our planning sols include an abundance of targets indeed.
Fun fact: Today’s name “Vasquez Rocks” comes from a site on Earth in Southern California that has been a popular spot for science fiction filming, appearing in several episodes of “Star Trek” going back to the original series!
Written by Lucy Lim, Participating Scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center
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Last Updated Jan 31, 2025 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space in Italy to lead European aerospace companies in building the Argonaut Lunar Descent Element, ESA’s first lunar lander.
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By NASA
On Jan. 24, 1985, space shuttle Discovery took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on STS-51C, the first space shuttle mission entirely dedicated to the Department of Defense (DOD). As such, many of the details of the flight remain classified. Discovery’s crew of Commander Thomas “T.K.” Mattingly, Pilot Loren Shriver, Mission Specialists Ellison Onizuka and James Buchli, and Payload Specialist Gary Payton deployed a classified satellite that used an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) to reach its final geostationary orbit. The three-day mission ended with a landing at KSC. Postflight inspection of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) revealed the most significant erosion of O-ring seals seen in the shuttle program up to that time, attributed to unusually cold weather before and during launch.
The STS-51C crew of Pilot Loren Shriver, seated left, and Commander Thomas “T.K.” Mattingly; Payload Specialist Gary Payton, standing left, and Mission Specialists James Buchli and Ellison Onizuka. The STS-51C crew patch. In October 1982, NASA assigned astronauts Mattingly, Shriver, Onizuka, and Buchli as the STS-10 crew for a dedicated DOD flight aboard Challenger then scheduled for September 1983. Payton joined the crew as a payload specialist in the summer of 1983 with Keith Wright assigned as his backup. The failure of the IUS on STS-6 in April 1983 delayed the STS-10 mission, that also used the IUS, until engineers could identify and fix the cause of the problem. By September 1983, NASA had remanifested the crew and the payload on STS-41F with a July 1984 launch, that changed to STS-41E by November 1983. Additional delays in fixing the IUS delayed the mission yet again, by June 1984 redesignated as STS-51C and slated for December 1984 aboard Challenger.
STS-51C marked the third spaceflight for Mattingly, selected in 1966 as part of NASA’s fifth group of astronauts. He served on the prime crew for Apollo 13 until exposure to German measles forced his last-minute replacement by his backup. He then flew on Apollo 16 and STS-4. For Shriver, Onizuka, and Buchli, all three selected as astronauts in the class of 1978, STS-51C marked their first trip into space. The U.S. Air Force selected Payton and Wright in August 1979 in its first class of Manned Spaceflight Engineers, and STS-51C marked Payton’s first and only space mission.
In November 1984, NASA decided to delay STS-51C from December 1984 to January 1985 and swap orbiters from Challenger to Discovery. Postflight inspections following Challenger’s STS-41G mission in October 1984 revealed degradation of the bonding materials holding thermal protection system tiles onto the orbiter, requiring the replacement of 4,000 tiles. The time required to complete the work precluded a December launch. Tests conducted on Discovery prior to its November STS-51A mission revealed the bonding material to be sound.
Space shuttle Discovery rolls out to Launch Pad 39A. The STS-51C crew poses during launch pad evacuation drills associated with the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The STS-51C crew exits crew quarters for the ride to Launch Pad 39A. On Jan. 5, 1985, Discovery rolled out from KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where workers mated it with its External Tank (ET) and SRBs, to Launch Pad 39A. There, engineers conducted the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, essentially a dress rehearsal for the actual countdown, on Jan. 6-7, with the crew participating in the final few hours much as they would on launch day. The astronauts returned to KSC on Jan. 20 to prepare for the planned launch on Jan. 23. The day before, NASA managers decided to delay the launch by one day due to unseasonably cold weather, with concern about sub-freezing temperatures causing ice to form on the ET and possibly coming loose during ascent and damaging the vehicle. The DOD had requested that NASA keep the actual launch time secret until T minus nine minutes, with most of the countdown taking place hidden from public view.
Liftoff of space shuttle Discovery on STS-51C. Liftoff of Discovery on its third mission, STS-51C, came at 2:50 p.m. EST on Jan. 24, beginning the 15th space shuttle flight. Eight and a half minutes later, Discovery and its five-man crew had reached orbit. And, at the DOD customer’s request, all public coverage of the mission ended. Although NASA could not reveal the spacecraft’s orbital parameters, trade publications calculated that Discovery first entered an elliptical orbit, circularized over the next few revolutions, prior to Onizuka deploying the IUS and payload combination on the seventh orbit. Neither NASA nor the DOD have released any imagery of the deployment or even of the payload bay, with only a limited number of in-cabin and Earth observation photographs made public.
STS-51C Commander Thomas “T.K.” Mattingly films the Earth from Discovery’s overhead flight deck window. STS-51C crew members Loren Shriver, left, Ellison Onizuka, and James Buchli on Discovery’s flight deck. STS-51C Payload Specialist Gary Payton on Discovery’s flight deck. Sunlight streams through Earth’s upper atmosphere, with Discovery’s tail and Orbital Maneuvering Engine pods outlined by sunlight. The Pacific coast of Guatemala and southern Mexico. New Orleans and the Mississippi River delta. Discovery touches down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-51C astronauts are greeted by NASA officials as they exit Discovery. To maintain the mission’s secrecy, NASA could reveal the touchdown time only 16 hours prior to the event. On Jan. 27, Mattingly and Shriver brought Discovery to a smooth landing at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility after a flight of three days one hour 33 minutes, the shortest space shuttle mission except for the first two orbital test flights. The astronauts orbited the Earth 49 times. About an hour after touchdown, the astronaut crew exited Discovery and boarded the Astrovan for the ride back to crew quarters. Neither NASA management nor the astronauts held a post mission press conference. The U.S. Air Force announced only that the “IUS aboard STS-51C was deployed from the shuttle Discovery and successfully met its mission objectives.” Later in the day, ground crews towed Discovery to the Orbiter Processing Facility to begin preparing it for its next planned mission, STS-51D in March.
Postscript
Following the recovery of SRBs after each shuttle mission, engineers conducted detailed inspections before clearing them for reuse. After STS-51C, inspections of the critical O-ring seals that prevented hot gases from escaping from the SRB field joints revealed significant erosion and “blow-by” between the primary and secondary O-rings. Both left and right hand SRBs showed this erosion, the most significant of the program up to that time. Importantly, these O-rings experienced weather colder than any previous shuttle mission, with overnight ambient temperatures in the teens and twenties. Even at launch time, the O-rings had reached only 60 degrees. Engineers believed that these cold temperatures made the O-rings brittle and more susceptible to erosion. One year later, space shuttle Challenger launched after similarly cold overnight temperatures, with O-rings at 57 degrees at launch time. The Rogers Commission report laid the blame of the STS-51L accident on the failure of O-rings that allowed super-hot gases to escape from the SRB and impinge on the hydrogen tank in the ET, resulting in the explosion that destroyed the orbiter and claimed the lives of seven astronauts. The commission also faulted NASA’s safety culture for not adequately addressing the issue of O-ring erosion, a phenomenon first observed on STS-2 and to varying degrees on several subsequent missions.
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By NASA
Artist’s rendering of astronauts managing logistics on the lunar surface. Credit: NASA NASA awarded new study contracts Thursday to help support life and work on the lunar surface. As part of the agency’s blueprint for deep space exploration to support the Artemis campaign, nine American companies in seven states are receiving awards.
The Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Appendix R contracts will advance learning in managing everyday challenges in the lunar environment identified in the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture.
“These contract awards are the catalyst for developing critical capabilities for the Artemis missions and the everyday needs of astronauts for long-term exploration on the lunar surface,” said Nujoud Merancy, deputy associate administrator, Strategy and Architecture Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The strong response to our request for proposals is a testament to the interest in human exploration and the growing deep-space economy. This is an important step to a sustainable return to the Moon that, along with our commercial partners, will lead to innovation and expand our knowledge for future lunar missions, looking toward Mars.”
The selected proposals have a combined value of $24 million, spread across multiple companies, and propose innovative strategies and concepts for logistics and mobility solutions including advanced robotics and autonomous capabilities:
Blue Origin, Merritt Island, Florida – logistical carriers; logistics handling and offloading; logistics transfer; staging, storage, and tracking; surface cargo and mobility; and integrated strategies Intuitive Machines, Houston, Texas – logistics handling and offloading; and surface cargo and mobility Leidos, Reston, Virginia – logistical carriers; logistics transfer; staging, storage, and tracking; trash management; and integrated strategies Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado – logistical carriers; logistics transfer; and surface cargo and mobility MDA Space, Houston – surface cargo and mobility Moonprint, Dover, Delaware – logistical carriers Pratt Miller Defense, New Hudson, Michigan – surface cargo and mobility Sierra Space, Louisville, Colorado – logistical carriers; logistics transfer; staging, storage, and tracking; trash management; and integrated strategies Special Aerospace Services, Huntsville, Alabama – logistical carriers; logistics handling and offloading; logistics transfer; staging, storage, and tracking; trash management; surface cargo and mobility; and integrated strategies NASA is working with industry, academia, and the international community to continuously evolve the blueprint for crewed exploration and taking a methodical approach to investigating solutions that set humanity on a path to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
For more on NASA’s mission to return to the Moon, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis
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Cindy Anderson / James Gannon
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cindy.a.anderson@nasa.gov / james.h.gannon@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 23, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Artemis Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Humans in Space NASA Headquarters View the full article
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By NASA
2 Min Read Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense
A sample holder in a vacuum chamber spins during a lunar dust adhesion test at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Credits: NASA/Josh Litofsky NASA’s Artemis campaign aims to return humans to the Moon, develop a sustainable presence there, and lay the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars. As the agency prepares for longer stays on and around the Moon, engineers are working diligently to understand the complex behavior of lunar dust, the sharp, jagged particles that can cling to spacesuits and jam equipment.
Lunar dust has posed a problem since astronauts first encountered it during the Apollo missions. Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust, NASA is developing new strategies to protect equipment as astronauts travel between the Moon and spacecraft like Gateway, humanity’s first lunar space station.
Josh Litofsky, systems engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, scoops material designed to behave like lunar dust to test how it adheres to Gateway materials. NASA/Bill Stafford Unlike Apollo-era spacecraft that faced lunar dust exposure just once, Gateway will encounter it each time a Human Landing System spacecraft returns to the space station from the lunar South Pole region. Dust could enter Gateway’s environment, risking damage to science instruments, solar arrays, robotic systems, and other important hardware.
Josh Litofsky is the principal investigator and project manager leading a Gateway lunar dust adhesion testing campaign at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. His team tracks how the dust interacts with materials used to build Gateway.
An artist’s rendering of the Gateway lunar space station in polar orbit around the Moon. NASA/Alberto Bertolin “The particles are jagged from millions of years of micrometeoroid impacts, sticky due to chemical and electrical forces, and extremely small,” Litofsky said. “Even small amounts of lunar dust can have a big impact on equipment and systems.”
Litofksy’s work seeks to validate the Gateway On-orbit Lunar Dust Modeling and Analysis Program (GOLDMAP), developed by Ronald Lee, also of Johnson Space Center. By considering factors such as the design and configuration of the space station, the materials used, and the unique conditions in lunar orbit, GOLDMAP helps predict how dust may move and settle on Gateway’s external surfaces.
Josh Litofsky, systems engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, places a sample holder inside a vacuum chamber to test how lunar dust sticks to Gateway materials. NASA/Bill StaffordNASA/Bill Stafford Early GOLDMAP simulations have shown that lunar dust can form clouds around Gateway, with larger particles sticking to surfaces.
The data from these tests and simulations will help NASA safeguard Gateway, to ensure the space station’s longevity during the next era of lunar exploration.
The lessons learned managing lunar dust and other harsh conditions through Gateway and Artemis will prepare NASA and its international partners for missions deeper into the cosmos
Learn More About Gateway Facebook logo @NASAGateway @NASA_Gateway Instagram logo @nasaartemis Share
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Last Updated Jan 22, 2025 ContactLaura RochonLocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
Gateway Space Station Artemis Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Gateway Program Johnson Space Center Explore More
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