Feed aggregator
2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Prediction vs. Reality
2 min read
2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Prediction vs. Reality Image Before/AfterBefore a total solar eclipse crossed North America on April 8, 2024, scientists at Predictive Science Inc. of San Diego aimed to foresee what the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, would look like during totality.
The predictions help researchers understand the accuracy of their models of the Sun’s corona, which extends along its magnetic field. A solar eclipse offers a rare opportunity to view the entire corona from Earth, guiding research into how its energy can cause solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can disrupt technology on Earth and in space.
The researchers used the Aitken, Electra, and Pleiades supercomputers at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility, located at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. With near-real-time data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and ESA’s (the European Space Agency) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter, they created a dynamic model of the corona. The team’s model accurately predicted several details, including long streamers in the upper and lower left side of the image, but the streamers’ locations are slightly misaligned when compared with real images. This is likely because some new activity on the far side of the Sun, which affected the appearance of the corona, wasn’t yet seen and couldn’t be incorporated in the model. Once it was, the model more closely matched observational photos of the corona.
Recognizing that the corona is inherently complex and difficult to predict during solar maximum, Cooper Downs, a research scientist at Predictive Science, said, “We’re really thrilled with this simulation. It really has a lot of scientific consequences that I think we’ll be exploring for a long time.”
By Rachel Lense, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md;
with Tara Friesen, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.
Researchers Develop ‘Founding Document’ on Synthetic Cell Development
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Synthetic cell development could lead researchers to new developments in food and medical sciences and a better understanding of the origins of life on Earth.NIH/Rhoda Baer
Cells are the fundamental units of life, forming the variety of all living things on Earth as individual cells and multi-cellular organisms. To better understand how cells perform the essential functions of life, scientists have begun developing synthetic cells – non-living bits of cellular biochemistry wrapped in a membrane that mimic specific biological processes.
The development of synthetic cells could one day hold the answers to developing new ways to fight disease, supporting long-duration human spaceflight, and better understanding the origins of life on Earth.
In a paper published recently in ACS Synthetic Biology, researchers outline the potential opportunities that synthetic cell development could unlock and what challenges lie ahead in this groundbreaking research. They also present a roadmap to inspire and guide innovation in this intriguing field.
“The potential for this field is incredible,” said Lynn Rothschild, the lead author of the paper and an astrobiologist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “It’s a privilege to have led this group in forming what we envision will be a founding document, a resource that will spur this field on.”
Synthetic cell development could have wide ranging benefits to humanity. Analyzing the intricacies that go in to building a cell could guide researchers to better understand how cells first evolved or open the door to creating new forms of life more capable of withstanding harsh environments like radiation or freezing temperatures.
These innovations could also lead to advancements in food and medical sciences – creating efficiencies in food production, detecting contaminants in manufacturing, or developing novel cellular functions that act as new therapies for chronic diseases and even synthetic organ transplantation.
Building synthetic cells could also answer some of NASA’s biggest questions about the possibility of life beyond Earth.
“The challenge of creating synthetic cells informs whether we’re alone in the universe,” said Rothschild. “We’re starting to develop the skills to not just create synthetic analogs of life as it may have happened on Earth but to consider pathways to life that could form on other planets.”
As research continues on synthetic cell development, Rothschild sees opportunities where it could expand our understanding of the complexities of natural life.
“Life is an amazing thing. We use the capabilities of cells all the time – we build houses with wood, we use leather in our shoes, we breathe oxygen. Life has amazing precision, and if you can harness it, it’s unbelievable what we could accomplish.”
For news media:
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 3 min read NASA Research Park Public Documents Article 7 hours ago 5 min read NASA Is Helping Protect Tigers, Jaguars, and Elephants. Here’s How.As human populations grow, habitat loss threatens many creatures. Mapping wildlife habitat using satellites is…
Article 11 hours ago 2 min read NASA Partner Zooniverse Receives White House Open Science AwardCongrats to NASA partner Zooniverse for being named winners in the White House’s Year of Open Science Recognition…
Article 12 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related TopicsAbout Ames
Cell Science
Space Synthetic Biology (SynBio)
Science News
Meet Alkaid, the Big Dipper’s Handle
Alkaid is the end star of the Big Dipper's handle, a bright-blue example of a nearby B-type star.
The post Meet Alkaid, the Big Dipper’s Handle appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Hi-C Rocket Experiment Achieves Never-Before-Seen Look at Solar Flares
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The High-Resolution Coronal Imager, or Hi-C, launches aboard a Black Brant IX sounding rocket April 17 at Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska. NASA
By Jessica Barnett
After months of preparation and years since its last flight, the upgraded High Resolution Coronal Imager Flare mission – Hi-C Flare, for short – took to the skies for a never-before-seen view of a solar flare.
The low-noise cameras – built at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama – are part of a suite of state-of-the-art instruments on board the Black Brant IX sounding rocket that launched April 17 from Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Using the new technology, investigators hoped to study the extreme energies involved with solar flares. The Hi-C Flare experiment mission was led by Marshall.
“This is a pioneering campaign,” said Sabrina Savage, principal investigator at Marshall for Hi-C Flare. “Launching sounding rockets to observe the Sun to test new technologies optimized for flare observations has not even been an option until now.”
It was the third iteration of the Hi-C instrument to take flight, but its first flight with ride along instruments, including the COOL-AID (Coronal OverLapagram – Ancillary Imaging Diagnostics), CAPRI-SUN (high-CAdence low-energy Passband x-Ray detector with Integrated full-SUN field of view), and SSAXI (Swift Solar Activity X-ray Imager). Following a month of payload integration and testing in White Sands, New Mexico, investigators completed final launch site integration at the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska.
Each morning of the two-week launch campaign window, the team spent about five hours preparing the experiment for launch, followed by up to four hours of monitoring solar data for a flare that registers as C5-class or higher with duration longer than the rocket flight. The launch finally occurred on the penultimate day of the campaign window.
“The Sun was unusually quiet throughout the campaign despite numerous active regions,” said Savage. “Both teams were getting nervous that we would not launch, but we finally got a nice long-duration M-class flare right before the window closed.”
The Hi-C Flare mission launched at 2:14 p.m. AKDT, just one minute after the FOXSI-4 (Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager) mission led by the University of Minnesota. Once in air, sensors on the Hi-C Flare rocket pointed cameras toward the Sun and stabilized instrumentation. Then, a shutter door opened to allow the cameras to gather about five minutes of data before the door closed and the rocket fell back to Earth.
From left, Austin Bumbalough, Ken Kobayashi, Harlan Haight, Sabrina Savage, William Hogue, Jim Cecil, and Adam Kobelski, members of the Hi-C Flare team, gather after the payload was recovered and brought to Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Hi-C Flare, equipped with Hi-C 3, COOL-AID, CAPRI-SUN, and SSAXI, launched into a solar flare as part of the first-ever solar flare sounding rocket campaign. NASA
The rocket landed in the Alaskan tundra, where it remained until conditions were safe enough for the team to retrieve it and begin processing the collected data.
“For launches into the tundra, we have to wait a few days for the instrument to get back to us and then to be dried out enough to turn on,” said Savage. “It was an anxious few days, but the data are beautiful and were worth the wait.”
Investigators weren’t just testing new technology, either. They also used a new algorithm to predict the behavior of a solar flare, allowing them to launch the rocket at the ideal time.
“To catch a flare in action is really hard, because you can’t predict them,” said Genevieve Vigil, technical and camera lead for Hi-C 3 and COOL-AID at Marshall. “We had to wait around for a solar flare to start going, then launch as it’s happening. No one has tried to do that before.”
Fortunately, their method was a success.
“We are still processing the data from all four instruments, but the data from Hi-C 3 and COOL-AID already look fantastic,” said Savage.
“The COOL-AID data is the first spectrally pure image in a hot spectral line that we know of,” said Amy Winebarger, project scientist at Marshall for Hi-C Flare.
The Hi-C experiment is led by Marshall Space Flight Center in partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Launch support is provided at Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska by NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, which is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s Heliophysics Division manages the sounding-rocket program for the agency.
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
Jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
Galaxy Evolution Explorer Searches for Light
Galaxy Evolution Explorer Searches for Light
This Dec. 21, 2002, artist’s concept of NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer imagines what the space telescope would look like during its mission. Launched April 28, 2003, it studied the shape, brightness, size and distance of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history. By observing ultraviolet wavelengths, the telescope measured the history of star formation in the universe.
This space telescope allowed astronomers to uncover mysteries about the early universe and how it evolved, as well as better characterize phenomena like black holes and dark matter. The mission was extended three times over a period of 10 years before it was decommissioned in June 2013.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sols 4173-4174: Reflections
3 min read
Sols 4173-4174: Reflections This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4171 (2024-04-30 19:41:16 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech
Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Today’s planning was a little out of the ordinary. Not in terms of the plan itself, Curiosity’s team built an exciting plan utilizing much of its science toolkit. Today’s plan was unusual rather due to my role as APXS PUDL Reverse Shadow (PUDL = Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead). While I normally staff the APXS PUDL role, the person on-shift responsible for APXS downlink assessment and uplink planning, operating as a “Reverse Shadow” meant I took a backseat to another APXS team member who was completing the final phases of their training for the role. They handled their duties with great aplomb, leaving me to reflect on my first few shifts in the same role.
As I’m typing this, given how long it has been since that time, I can’t shake the comedy of narrating this section of the blog in the distinct and rapid-paced tone of 1940s or 1950s radio and TV. It was around a month after landing, September 10th 2012, to be specific. I was on shift for the first time as APXS PUDL and was not expecting much in the way of workload given the notional plan. Curiosity, on the other hand, had a different idea. As event logs of the sol prior were received, the intended plan was scrapped and there was an opportunity to propose an activity. My mentor at the time encouraged my input. We were conducting operations at JPL then and walked down the hall to present our request to other members of the team before the sol’s uplink planning meetings officially kicked off (I am correcting myself here as I originally typed “days” instead of “sols” but Mars time meant shifts at this time occurred throughout the night in California). The proposal was accepted, and the proposed activity ultimately went according to plan. I can remember driving back to my hotel as the sun was coming up. It was then that it hit me: I had just influenced something that happened on another planet. It was a very surreal experience. What I didn’t realize then, however, was how important these data acquired on my first shift as lead APXS PUDL would be, given they now serve as a baseline from which we assess APXS performance vs. temperature over time.
Today’s APXS PUDL had a more typical experience. There are two APXS targets in the plan: “Emerald Peak” and “Franklin Lakes.” These targets are both on the same block (the rectangular one just slightly left and above the middle of this blog’s image), with Emerald Peak targeting the visibly altered rim near the lower portion of the block and Franklin Lakes more centrally located. MAHLI will acquire images of both of these targets, including a three-position rotational stereo set on Emerald Peak. A number of other targets were captured by ChemCam and/or Mastcam, including “Grizzly Falls,” “Liberty Cap,” “Pavilion Dome,” “Triple Divide Peak,” and “Haystack Peak.” As Curiosity is not driving in this plan, ChemCam and Mastcam are also used for targeted observations on the second sol, focusing primarily on “The Minarets” and “Pinnacle Ridge,” alongside long-distance observations of “Kukenan.” DAN observations as well as a number of environmental monitoring activities by REMS, Navcam, and Mastcam round out the two-sol plan.
Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University
Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 4 min read Sols 4168-4170 Reaching the “Pinnacle” of Gediz Vallis Ridge (Pinnacle Ridge)Article
1 day ago
3 min read Sols 4171-4172: Scoot Over!
Article
2 days ago
3 min read Sols 4166-4167: A Garden Full of Rocks
Article
1 week ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars
Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars…
All Mars Resources
Rover Basics
Mars Exploration Science Goals
NASA Is Helping Protect Tigers, Jaguars, and Elephants. Here’s How.
Wildlife Conservation Society / Dale Miquelle
As human populations grow, habitat loss threatens many creatures. Mapping wildlife habitat using satellites is a rapidly expanding area of ecology, and NASA satellites play a crucial role in these efforts. Tigers, jaguars, and elephants are a few of the vulnerable animals whose habitats NASA is helping track from space.
“Satellites observe vast areas of Earth’s surface on daily to weekly schedules,” said Keith Gaddis, ecological conservation program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “That helps scientists monitor habitats that would be logistically challenging and time-consuming to survey from the ground — crucial for animals like tigers that roam large territories.”
Here’s how NASA and its partners help protect three of Earth’s most iconic species:
Trouble (and Hope) for TigersTigers have lost at least 93% of their historical range, which once spanned Eurasia. Roughly 3,700 to 5,500 wild tigers remain, up from an estimated low of 3,200 in 2010.
In a recent study, researchers reviewed over 500 studies that contained data on tigers and their habitat across Asia. The team found that the area where the big cats are known to live declined 11%, from about 396,000 square miles in 2001 to about 352,000 square miles in 2020.
Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and funded by NASA’s Ecological Conservation program, the team developed a tool that uses Google Earth Engine and NASA Earth observations to monitor changes in tiger habitat. The goal: aid conservation efforts in near-real time, using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagers, and Landsat satellites.
The researchers mapped large stretches of “empty forests” without recent tiger presence. Because these areas were suitable habitat and are still big enough to support tigers, they are potential landscapes for restoration, assuming there is enough food. If tigers could reach those areas, either through natural dispersal or active reintroduction, it could “increase the land base for tigers by 50%,” the scientists reported.
“There’s still a lot more room for tigers in the world than even tiger experts thought,” said lead author Eric Sanderson, formerly a senior conservation ecologist at WCS and now vice president of urban conservation at the New York Botanical Garden. “We were only able to figure that out because we brought together all of this data from NASA and integrated it with information from the field.”
Where the Jaguars AreJaguars once roamed from the U.S. Southwest to Argentina. But in the past century, they have lost about 50% of their range, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Like tigers, jaguars must contend with poaching and the loss of food sources. Wild jaguars number between 64,000 and 173,000 individuals, and IUCN classifies them as near-threatened.
In Gran Chaco, South America’s second largest woodland, jaguars and other animals live in an especially threatened ecosystem. The dry lowland forest stretches from northern Argentina into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil, and has experienced severe deforestation.
Image Before/AfterJaguars in Argentina’s Chaco may number in the hundreds. Using data on land use and infrastructure, plus Earth observations from MODIS and Landsat, NASA-funded researchers mapped priority conservation areas for jaguars and other important animals. About 36% of the priority areas in Argentina’s Chaco are currently “low-protection” zones, where deforestation is allowed.
“Managers and conservationists could use the new spatial information to see where current forest zoning is protecting key animals, and where it may need re-evaluation,” said lead author Sebastian Martinuzzi of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Elephants Seek Out Forest HavensAfrican savanna elephants now occupy an estimated 15% of their historical range, and their numbers have declined. One study surveyed about 90% of the elephants’ range and estimated that their numbers dropped by 144,000 elephants from 2007 to 2014, leaving approximately 352,000 individuals. In 2021, the IUCN updated the elephants’ status to endangered.
A recent study used NASA satellite-derived vegetation indices and other data to study elephants in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, and in nearby semi-protected and unprotected zones. Researchers found that, especially in the unprotected areas, the elephants preferred dense canopy forest, particularly along streams, and avoided open areas like grasslands, especially when more people are present. Human development, such as tourism lodges, is often built in such forests.
Prioritizing elephants’ access to forests in unprotected areas should be of utmost importance for land managers, the researchers said. Because the elephants avoided grasslands, some of those areas could be used for development or livestock — balancing need for economic development and elephant habitat.
The IUCN likewise classifies Asian elephants as endangered. In southern Bhutan, crop depredation and wildlife approaching human settlements is escalating conflicts between people and elephants. In 2020–2021, Bhutanese scholars studying in the United States were selected to participate in the NASA Capacity Building Program’s DEVELOP program. Partnering with the Bhutan Foundation, Bhutan Tiger Center, and Bhutan Ecological Society, the teams used NASA Earth observations, elephant occurrence data, and other information to model current habitat suitability and map wildlife pathways between habitats, aiding strategies that reduce the risk of conflict.
By Emily DeMarco
NASA’s Earth Science Division, Headquarters
Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 Contact Emily DeMarco emily.p.demarco@nasa.gov Location NASA Headquarters Related Terms Explore More 2 min read NASA Partner Zooniverse Receives White House Open Science AwardArticle
3 hours ago
4 min read Two Small NASA Satellites Will Measure Soil Moisture, Volcanic Gases
Article
1 day ago
5 min read NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change
Article
2 weeks ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Earth
Your home. Our Mission. And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other.
Climate Change
NASA is a global leader in studying Earth’s changing climate.
Weather
Weather The Earth’s weather system includes the dynamics of the atmosphere and its interaction with the oceans and land. Weather…
Earth Science Missions
In order to study the Earth as a whole system and understand how it is changing, NASA develops and supports…
Watch ULA assemble Atlas V rocket ahead of Boeing Starliner astronaut test flight (video)
NASA's Hubble Telescope is back in action — but its TESS exoplanet hunter may now be in trouble
NASA Partner Zooniverse Receives White House Open Science Award
Zooniverse
Congrats to NASA partner Zooniverse for being named winners in the White House’s Year of Open Science Recognition Challenge!
The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) designated 2023 as the year of Open Science, and invited innovators to submit stories of how they’ve advanced equitable open science. OSTP and its federal partners selected five challenge project submissions as “Champions of Open Science” including Zooniverse.
Since 2007, Zooniverse has become the largest online open data platform for people-powered research, engaging more than 2.7 million people. NASA Citizen Science projects hosted on the Zooniverse platform include Cloudspotting on Mars, Dark Energy Explorers, Floating Forests, Are We Alone In the Universe?, Disk Detective, Solar Active Region Spotter, Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, Active Asteroids, Daily Minor Planet, Solar Jet Hunter, Jovian Vortex Hunter, Redshift Wrangler, Burst Chaser and Planet Hunters TESS.
“With Zooniverse we have classified more galaxies than we ever thought possible!” said Lindsay House, scientist on the Dark Energy Explorers project. “Zooniverse participants have been vital in helping us map the universe.”
Find out more, and join the fun at Zooniverse.org!
Facebook logo @DoNASAScience @DoNASAScience Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 5 min read NASA Is Helping Protect Tigers, Jaguars, and Elephants. Here’s How.Article
3 hours ago
2 min read NASA’s Hubble Pauses Science Due to Gyro Issue
Article
2 days ago
3 min read NASA/JAXA’s XRISM Mission Captures Unmatched Data With Just 36 Pixels
Article
2 days ago
NASA Technology Grants to Advance Moon to Mars Space Exploration
NASA has awarded nearly $1.5 million to academic, non-profit, and business organizations to advance state-of-the-art technology that will play a key role in the agency’s return to the Moon under Artemis, as well as future missions to Mars.
Twenty-four projects from 21 organizations have been awarded under NASA’s Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notices, or CANs. The awardees also will receive assistance from propulsion, space transportation, and science experts at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“The Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notice enables NASA to collaboratively work with U.S. industry and academia to develop needed technologies,” said Daniel O’Neil, manager, NASA Marshall’s Technology Development Dual-Use CAN Program. “Products from these cooperative agreements support the closure of identified technology gaps and enable the development of components and systems for NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture.”
These innovative projects include ways to use lunar regolith for construction on the Moon’s surface, using smartphone video guidance sensors to fly robots on the International Space Station, identifying new battery materials, and improving a neutrino particle detector.
The following is a complete list of awardees:
- Auburn University in Alabama
- Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida
- Florida International University in Miami
- Fronius USA in Portage, Indiana
- Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories in Tullahoma, Tennessee
- Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge
- Morgan State University in Baltimore
- Nanoracks (Voyager Space) in Houston
- Northwestern University in Chicago
- Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
- Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio
- Tethon 3D in Omaha, Nebraska
- University of Alabama in Huntsville
- University of California in Irvine
- University of Florida in Gainesville
- University of Illinois in Chicago
- University of North Texas in Denton
- University of Tennessee in Knoxville
- University of Tennessee Space Institute
- Victory Solutions in Huntsville, Alabama
- Wichita State University in Kansas
The Florida Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of Alabama were awarded funding for two projects each.
Funding was available for organizations focused on supporting entrepreneurial research and innovation ideas that could advance the commercial space sector and benefit future NASA missions.
Applications are now open for the 2024 solicitation cycle.
To learn more about NASA’s missions, visit:
-end-
Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
James.j.russell@nasa.gov
Ramon Osorio
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
ramon.j.osorio@nasa.gov
NASA selects Rocket Lab for back-to-back climate change research launches
Orangutan is first non-human seen treating wounds with medicinal plant
Orangutan is first non-human seen treating wounds with medicinal plant
Ariane 6 stands tall for launch
Last week, Ariane 6’s central core – the main body of the rocket – was stood tall at the launch zone and connected to its two solid-fuel boosters. This exciting moment means only one thing: it’s the start of the first launch campaign.
The main stage and upper stage make up the core stage, and they were autonomously driven at 3 km/h from the rocket assembly building to the launch pad, 800 m away. Then lifted by a crane, the Ariane 6 core was stood upright on the launch table.
The two boosters were transported to the launch pad on a specially designed truck and then configured with the rocket body, now holding it upright.
Ariane 6 is due to launch in summer 2024. The heavy-lift rocket will inaugurate a new era of autonomous European space transportation, powering Europe into space to realise its ambitions on the world stage. It will lift off from a modern launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying with it not just a variety of spacecraft, but also European goals for prosperity and autonomy.
SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites in 2nd half of spaceflight doubleheader (video)
NASA Doubles Down, Advances Six Innovative Tech Concepts to New Phase
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A collage of artist concepts highlighting the novel approaches proposed by the 2024 NIAC Phase II awardees for possible future missions.Credits: NASA, From left: Edward Balaban, Mary Knapp, Mahmooda Sultana, Brianna Clements, Ethan Schaler
NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) has selected six visionary concept studies for additional funding and development. Each study has already completed the initial NIAC phase, showing their futuristic ideas – like a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes – may provide fresh perspectives and approaches as NASA explores the unknown in space.
The NIAC Phase II conceptual studies will receive up to $600,000 to continue working over the next two years to address key remaining technical and budget hurdles and pave their development path forward. When Phase II is complete, these studies could advance to the final NIAC phase, earning additional funding and development consideration toward becoming a future aerospace mission.
“These diverse, science fiction-like concepts represent a fantastic class of Phase II studies,” said John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our NIAC fellows never cease to amaze and inspire, and this class definitely gives NASA a lot to think about in terms of what’s possible in the future.” The six concepts chosen for 2024 NIAC Phase II awards are:
Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE): Enabling the Next Generation of Large Space Observatories would create a large optical observatory in space using fluidic shaping of ionic liquids. These in-space observatories could potentially help investigate NASA’s highest priority astrophysics targets, including Earth-like exoplanets, first-generation stars, and young galaxies. The FLUTE study is led by Edward Balaban from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
Pulsed Plasma Rocket: Shielded, Fast Transits for Humans to Mars is an innovative propulsion system that relies on using fission-generated packets of plasma for thrust. This innovative system could significantly reduce travel times between Earth and any destination in the solar system. This study is led by Brianna Clements with Howe Industries in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Great Observatory for Long Wavelengths (GO-LoW) could change the way NASA conducts astronomy. This mega constellation low-frequency radio telescope uses thousands of autonomous SmallSats capable of measuring the magnetic fields emitted from exoplanets and the cosmic dark ages. GO-LoW is led by Mary Knapp with MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Radioisotope Thermoradiative Cell Power Generator is investigating new in-space power sources, potentially operating at higher efficiencies than NASA legacy power generators. This technology could enable small exploration and science spacecraft in the future that are unable to carry bulky solar or nuclear power systems. This power generation concept study is from Stephen Polly at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
FLOAT: Flexible Levitation on a Track would be a lunar railway system, providing reliable, autonomous, and efficient payload transport on the Moon. This rail system could support daily operations of a sustainable lunar base as soon as the 2030s. Ethan Schaler leads FLOAT at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
ScienceCraft for Outer Planet Exploration distributes Quantum Dot-based sensors throughout the surface of a solar sail, enabling it to become an innovative imager. Quantum physics would allow NASA to take scientific measurements through studying how the dots absorb light. By leveraging the solar sail’s area, it allows lighter, more cost-effective spacecraft to carry imagers across the solar system. ScienceCraft is led by NASA’s Mahmooda Sultana at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the NIAC program, as it is responsible for developing the agency’s new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities to achieve its current and future missions.
To learn more about NIAC and the 2024 Phase II studies, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/stmd-the-nasa-innovative-advanced-concepts-niac/
Facebook logo @NASATechnology @NASA_Technology Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NIAC Space Technology Mission DirectorateSpace Technology Mission Directorate. Technology drives exploration and the space economy.
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts
NIAC Funded Studies
Apply to NIAC
Share Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 EditorLoura Hall Related TermsSome planets 'death spiral' into their stars and scientists may now know why
Wild Orangutan Uses Herbal Medicine to Treat His Wound
Researchers say this may be the first observation of a nonhuman animal purposefully treating a wound with a medicinal plant