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Johnson Celebrates AA and NHPI Heritage Month: Anima Patil-Sabale
Anima Patil-Sabale has been shooting for the stars since she was a little girl growing up in India. Inspired by books about the Apollo-era space program, Patil-Sabale decided she would be an astronaut one day.
For the first step on her journey to space, Patil-Sabale hoped to become a fighter pilot, but India did not allow women to serve in these combat roles at the time. (The Indian Air Force began accepting female candidates in 2015.) Instead, Patil-Sabale pursued degrees in physics and computer applications and worked as a software engineer in Mumbai before getting a job as a software consultant in San Jose, California. Her proximity to NASA’s Ames Research Center inspired her to pursue another master’s degree, in aerospace engineering, and to apply for opportunities with the agency. Her first job with NASA was working as a software and operations engineer supporting the Kepler space telescope at Ames. She has held a variety of positions at Ames and Johnson since then.
Anima Patil-Sabale’s passion for astronautics is fulfilled through her work at NASA and her participation in a variety of external research projects. Here she is pictured boarding a Falcon 20 aircraft to conduct spacesuit performance tests while flying more than 50 parabolas.Image courtesy of Anima Patil-SabalePatil-Sabale currently serves as a private astronaut mission (PAM) integrator for the International Space Station Program’s Avionics and Software Office. In that role, she works closely with Axiom Space team members to understand and integrate requirements for their PAMs into the space station’s onboard computers, laptops, and networking systems. It is a relatively new position, meaning Patil-Sabale is often charting new territory in her day-to-day work. “The challenges of working on something new that has not been done before on the International Space Station and the possibilities it creates for future commercialization – being a part of that all makes the job rewarding and fun,” she said.
Patil-Sabale’s time at NASA has also provided opportunities to sample the dreamed-of astronaut experience. In 2015, she was selected to serve as commander for the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) Campaign 2 Mission 3. The mission marked her first trip to Johnson. “Coming to the home of astronauts was exciting and emotional for me,” she said, adding that she has participated in several research projects and missions since HERA. “I love the fact that in addition to the amazing work I do at NASA, I get to contribute to the human spaceflight program as a human test subject. Time will tell if I get to fly to space, but meanwhile I am happy to contribute – even if a tiny bit – to an active area of research that will help us live and thrive on Mars and eventually become a space-faring species.”
The Human Exploration Research Analog Campaign 2 Mission 3 crew, from left: Mission Specialist II Debra Hodges, Flight Engineer Samuel Wald, Mission Specialist I Samson Phan, and Commander Anima Patil-Sabale.NASA/Bill StaffordPatil-Sabale first engaged with Johnson’s ASIA ERG in 2019, when the group invited her to give a presentation about her personal and professional journey. She currently serves as the group’s Social/Culture Committee lead. “I love bringing people together,” she said. “I believe people enjoy not just talking about each other’s cultures and traditions, but also being a part of them.”
That belief inspired her to spearhead a Johnson-based Diwali celebration in 2023, in addition to participating in the agencywide event organized by NASA Headquarters. Johnson’s celebration included several dance and musical performances, a fashion show, and delicious food.
“These cultural events give us an opportunity to bond in a very different way,” she said. “We get to know many sides of each other that we wouldn’t discover as strictly work colleagues.” ERG events also help people from different teams connect. “For my Diwali dance performance, I had seven people from seven different teams who did not know each other or about their work, and they got to connect during our practice sessions.”
Anima Patil-Sabale (foreground) with her dance performance team members during Johnson Space Center’s 2023 Diwali celebration.Image courtesy of Anima Patil-SabalePatil-Sabale hopes to see more cultural celebrations hosted at Johnson in the future and encouraged others to take the initiative to organize events and involve as many colleagues as possible. She also believes it is important for ERGs to continue offering these social and cultural opportunities, in addition to professional development programs. “Giving us these opportunities means so much to people like me,” she said.
Patil-Sabale appreciates any event that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well. She regularly meets with high school girls to encourage their interest in STEM careers and often speaks at International Women’s Day celebrations, where she urges women of all ages to pursue their dreams. “It’s never too late to pursue your interests, your passions,” she said.
Readying Apollo 10 for Launch
Webb Cracks Case of Inflated Exoplanet
Why is the warm gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b so puffy? Two independent teams of researchers have an answer.
Data collected using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, combined with prior observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, show surprisingly little methane (CH4) in the planet’s atmosphere, indicating that the interior of WASP-107 b must be significantly hotter and the core much more massive than previously estimated.
The unexpectedly high temperature is thought to be a result of tidal heating caused by the planet’s slightly non-circular orbit, and can explain how WASP-107 b can be so inflated without resorting to extreme theories of how it formed.
The results, which were made possible by Webb’s extraordinary sensitivity and accompanying ability to measure light passing through exoplanet atmospheres, may explain the puffiness of dozens of low-density exoplanets, helping solve a long-standing mystery in exoplanet science.
Image: Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP-107 b (Artist’s Concept) This artist’s concept shows what the warm Neptune exoplanet WASP-107 b could look like based on recent data gathered by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope along with previous observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. Observations captured by Hubble’s WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3), Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), and Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) suggest that the planet has a relatively large core surrounded by a relatively small mass of hydrogen and helium gas, which has been inflated due to tidal heating of the interior. The Problem with WASP-107 bAt more than three-quarters the volume of Jupiter but less than one-tenth the mass, the “warm Neptune” exoplanet WASP-107 b is one of the least dense planets known. While puffy planets are not uncommon, most are hotter and more massive, and therefore easier to explain.
“Based on its radius, mass, age, and assumed internal temperature, we thought WASP-107 b had a very small, rocky core surrounded by a huge mass of hydrogen and helium,” explained Luis Welbanks from Arizona State University (ASU), lead author on a paper published today in Nature. “But it was hard to understand how such a small core could sweep up so much gas, and then stop short of growing fully into a Jupiter-mass planet.”
If WASP-107 b instead has more of its mass in the core, the atmosphere should have contracted as the planet cooled over time since it formed. Without a source of heat to re-expand the gas, the planet should be much smaller. Although WASP-107 b has an orbital distance of just 5 million miles (one-seventh the distance between Mercury and the Sun), it doesn’t receive enough energy from its star to be so inflated.
“WASP-107 b is such an interesting target for Webb because it’s significantly cooler and more Neptune-like in mass than many of the other low-density planets, the hot Jupiters, we’ve been studying,” said David Sing from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), lead author on a parallel study also published today in Nature. “As a result, we should be able to detect methane and other molecules that can give us information about its chemistry and internal dynamics that we can’t get from a hotter planet.”
A Wealth of Previously Undetectable MoleculesWASP-107 b’s giant radius, extended atmosphere, and edge-on orbit make it ideal for transmission spectroscopy, a method used to identify the various gases in an exoplanet atmosphere based on how they affect starlight.
Combining observations from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), and Hubble’s WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3), Welbanks’ team was able to build a broad spectrum of 0.8- to 12.2-micron light absorbed by WASP-107 b’s atmosphere. Using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), Sing’s team built an independent spectrum covering 2.7 to 5.2 microns.
The precision of the data makes it possible to not just detect, but actually measure the abundances of a wealth of molecules, including water vapor (H2O), methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ammonia (NH3).
Image:Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP-107 b Transmission Spectrum (Hubble WFC3, Webb NIRCam, and Webb MIRI This transmission spectrum, captured using NASA’s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, shows the amounts of different wavelengths (colors) of starlight blocked by the atmosphere of the gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b. The spectrum includes light collected over four separate observations using a total of three different instruments: Hubble’s WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) Grism Spectrometer in green, Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) Grism Spectrometer in orange, and Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) Low-Resolution Spectrometer in pink. This spectrum shows clear evidence for water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ammonia (NH4) in the planet’s atmosphere, allowing researchers to estimate the interior temperature and mass of the core. Image:Warm Gas-Giant Exoplanet WASP-107 b (Transmission Spectrum: Webb NIRSpec) This transmission spectrum, captured using Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) Bright Object Spectrometer, shows the amounts of different wavelengths (colors) of near-infrared starlight blocked by the atmosphere of the gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b. The spectrum shows clear evidence for water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the planet’s atmosphere, allowing researchers to estimate the interior temperature and core mass. Roiling Gas, Hot Interior, and Massive CoreBoth spectra show a surprising lack of methane in WASP-107 b’s atmosphere: one-thousandth the amount expected based on its assumed temperature.
“This is evidence that hot gas from deep in the planet must be mixing vigorously with the cooler layers higher up,” explained Sing. “Methane is unstable at high temperatures. The fact that we detected so little, even though we did detect other carbon-bearing molecules, tells us that the interior of the planet must be significantly hotter than we thought.”
A likely source of WASP-107 b’s extra internal energy is tidal heating caused by its slightly elliptical orbit. With the distance between the star and planet changing continuously over the 5.7-day orbit, the gravitational pull is also changing, stretching the planet and heating it up.
Researchers had previously proposed that tidal heating could be the cause of WASP-107 b’s puffiness, but until the Webb results were in, there was no evidence.
Once they established that the planet has enough internal heat to thoroughly churn up the atmosphere, the teams realized that the spectra could also provide a new way to estimate the size of the core.
“If we know how much energy is in the planet, and we know what proportion of the planet is heavier elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, versus how much is hydrogen and helium, we can calculate how much mass must be in the core,” explained Daniel Thorngren from JHU.
It turns out that the core is at least twice as massive as originally estimated, which makes more sense in terms of how planets form.
All together, WASP-107 b is not as mysterious as it once appeared.
“The Webb data tells us that planets like WASP-107 b didn’t have to form in some odd way with a super small core and a huge gassy envelope,” explained Mike Line from ASU. “Instead, we can take something more like Neptune, with a lot of rock and not as much gas, just dial up the temperature, and poof it up to look the way it does.”
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).
DownloadsRight click the images in this article to open a larger version in a new tab/window.
Download full resolution images for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The research results are published in Nature.
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Margaret Carruthers mcarruthers@stsci.edu, Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Research Paper: “A high internal heat flux and large core in a warm Neptune exoplanet” by L. Welbanks, et al
Research Paper: “A warm Neptune’s methane reveals core mass and vigorous atmospheric mixing” by D. Sing, et al
Research Paper: “MIRI observation of WASP-107 b: SO2, silicate clouds, but no CH4 detected in a warm Neptune” by A. Dyrek, et al
VIDEO: How do we learn about a planets Atmosphere?
Webb’s Impact on Exoplanet Research
More Webb News – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/latestnews/
More Webb Images – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/multimedia/images/
Webb Mission Page – https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/
Related For Kids En EspañolPara Niños : Qué es una exoplaneta?
Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space TelescopeWebb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
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Share Details Last Updated May 20, 2024 Editor Stephen Sabia Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
NASA to Start Designing More Sustainable Jet Engine Core
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist concept shows a NASA-developed small-core jet engine installed in General Electric Aerospace’s CFM RISE jet engine design. The more fuel-efficient small core powers a large open turbofan, which also helps increase efficiency. The effort is part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership to help inform the next generation of ultra-efficient airliners.GE AerospaceNASA, alongside industry, will soon begin designing a new jet engine concept for the next generation of ultra-efficient airliners — officially graduating to the project’s next phase.
As part of NASA’s goal to make the aviation industry more sustainable, the agency is developing a small core for a hybrid-electric turbofan jet engine that could reduce fuel burn by 10% compared to today’s engines.
A jet engine’s core is where compressed air is combined with fuel and ignited to generate power. By making this core smaller, fuel efficiency can be improved and carbon emissions reduced.
The goal of the project, named Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC), is to demonstrate this compact core and have the technology ready for adoption in engines powering next-generation aircraft in the 2030s. HyTEC is a key component of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership.
To achieve its ambitious goal, HyTEC is structured in two phases:
- Phase 1, which is wrapping up, focused on selecting the component technologies to use in the core demonstrator.
- Phase 2, starting now, will see researchers design, build, and test a compact core in collaboration with GE Aerospace.
“Phase 1 of HyTEC is winding down and we are ramping up Phase 2,” said Anthony Nerone, who leads HyTEC at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “This phase will culminate in a core demonstration test that proves the technology so it can transition to industry.”
The End of the BeginningBefore researchers could start the design and build process for the core, they had to explore innovative new materials to use in the engine. After three years of notably fast progress, HyTEC researchers came up with solutions.
“We’ve been laser-focused since day one. We began the project with certain technical goals and metrics for success and, so far, we haven’t had to change course from any of them,” Nerone said.
To shrink the size of a core while maintaining the same level of thrust, heat and pressure must increase compared to standard jet engines used today. This means the engine core must be made of more durable materials that can withstand higher temperatures.
In addition to conducting materials research, the project also explored advanced aerodynamics and other key technical elements.
Cross section of a typical turbofan jet engine highlights parts of the core HyTEC will work to advance. These include the high-pressure compressor, combustor, high pressure turbine, and power extraction components.NASA What Comes NextPhase 2 builds on Phase 1 to create a compact core for ground testing that proves HyTEC’s capabilities.
“Phase 2 is very complex. It’s not just a core demonstration,” Nerone said. “What we’re creating has never been done before, and it involves many different technologies coming together to form a new type of engine.”
Technologies tested in the HyTEC program will help enable a much higher bypass ratio, hybridization, and compatibility with sustainable aviation fuels.
The bypass ratio describes the relationship between the amount of air flowing through the engine core compared to the amount of air bypassing the core to flow around it.
By decreasing the core size while increasing the size of the turbofan it powers – while maintaining the same thrust output — the HyTEC concept would use less fuel and reduce carbon emissions.
“HyTEC is an integral part of our RISE program,” said Kathleen Mondino, who helps lead RISE program technologies at GE Aerospace. “GE Aerospace and NASA have a long history of collaboration to advance the latest aviation technologies. The HyTEC program builds on this relationship to help chart the future of more sustainable flight.”
Another piece of the puzzle is hybridization. HyTEC’s hybrid-electric capability means the core will also be augmented by electrical power to further reduce fuel use and carbon emissions.
“This engine will be the first mild hybrid-electric engine, and hopefully, the first production engine for airliners that is hybrid-electric,” Nerone said.
About the AuthorJohn GouldAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateJohn Gould is a member of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is dedicated to public service and NASA’s leading role in scientific exploration. Prior to working for NASA Aeronautics, he was a spaceflight historian and writer, having a lifelong passion for space and aviation.
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Share Details Last Updated May 17, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactBrian Newbacherbrian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov Related TermsHubble Views the Dawn of a Sun-like Star
Hubble Views the Dawn of a Sun-like Star
Looking like a glittering cosmic geode, a trio of dazzling stars blaze from the hollowed-out cavity of a reflection nebula in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The triple-star system is made up of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3. HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that hasn’t begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our Sun. T Tauri stars tend to be younger than 10 million years old ― in comparison, our Sun is around 4.6 billion years old ― and are often found still swaddled in the clouds of dust and gas from which they formed.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
NASA Awards Contracts for Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition Services
NASA has selected four companies to provide spacecraft and related services, including acquiring spacecraft components and equipment, in support of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The multiple awards, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity base contracts, are firm-fixed-price with a total combined value of $6 billion. These multi-agency contracts may support other NASA centers and federal agencies. The performance period is through Aug. 31, 2025, with the potential to extend the effective ordering period until Aug. 31, 2030. The spacecraft designs, related items, and services may be tailored, as needed, to meet the unique needs of each mission.
The following companies have been awarded the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid IV) On-Ramp III contract:
- ARGOTEC Inc., of Largo, Maryland
- Blue Canyon Technologies LLC, of Lafayette, Colorado
- General Atomics, of San Diego, California
- Kongsberg NanoAvionics US LLC, of Riverdale, Maryland
The Rapid IV contract includes an “on ramp” feature, which allows for the original solicitation to be periodically re-opened to give new vendors the opportunity to propose flight proven spacecraft designs. On ramps also give vendors already awarded a Rapid IV contract the opportunity to propose additional flight-proven spacecraft designs and/or update their existing catalog designs.
Primarily, the work will be performed at the contractor’s facilities. Additional work will be required at the government launch site.
For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:
-end-
Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov
Dr. Lori Glaze to begin six-month Detail as Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for ESDMD
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Dr. Lori Glaze to begin six-month Detail as Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for ESDMD May 17, 2024I am pleased to share some exciting news regarding senior executive detail backfills to provide broadening opportunities for some of our leadership team.
Agency leadership has chosen Dr. Lori Glaze to begin a six-month detail as the Acting Deputy AA for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) due to the transition of Kelvin Manning back to KSC at the end of May 2024. It is expected that this detail will begin imminently, to allow for some transition time before the end of May. Lori’s detail will be for a 6-month period, while ESDMD broadly advertises the Deputy AA position.
This is an incredible opportunity to have an exceptional leader and advocate for planetary science, and all science, within ESDMD. Lori’s outstanding leadership of the Planetary Science Division make her uniquely qualified and the ideal candidate to help continue to strengthen the ties between science and exploration. As we know, exploration enables science, and science enables exploration.
Lori has done an incredible job of leading the NASA Planetary Science community for the past six years. To name only a selection of highlights, Lori has overseen: Insight landing on Mars and completion of its mission, Perseverance beginning the task of Mars Sample Return, Ingenuity’s paradigm-changing 72 flights, DART’s successful impact, the launch of Lucy and Psyche, OSIRIS-REx’s incredible return of 121 g of material from Bennu, the start of a real renaissance in Venus exploration, and Europa Clipper preparing for its launch this fall.
To temporarily backfill Lori’s position, I have asked Dr. Gina DiBraccio to join the SMD leadership team on a short-term detail beginning May 27. Gina currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Gina also serves as the Deputy Principal Investigator and Project Scientist of NASA’s MAVEN mission. Gina has also been involved in research at Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus by utilizing data from the MESSENGER, MAVEN, Juno, Cassini, and Voyager 2 missions.
We are very excited about these temporary changes in ESDMD, SMD and GSFC leadership, and the broadening opportunities it provides for our Agency leaders. These changes strengthen all three organizations by taking advantage of the great leaders we have in place to ensure all our organizations have strong management. We look forward to continued success in leading the entire Agency team in achieving our mission and science objectives.
While it is hard to let Lori go from SMD, I am so pleased and excited that we will have an incredible leader in science help steward the Artemis campaign. Please join me in wishing Lori great success in her temporary new role and welcoming Gina into SMD and her new role!
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NASA Around the World: Interns Teach Virtual Lessons in Kenya
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)Video Credit: NASA/Dennis Brown, TechLit Africa
When it comes to inspiring the next generation, NASA interns know no bounds. Interns at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland taught students 7,600 miles away in Mogotio, Kenya, but thanks to technology, they didn’t travel a single mile.
Collaborating with TechLit Africa — a non-profit organization that teaches digital skills in Kenyan rural primary schools — interns shared virtual lessons on robot simulation, artificial intelligence, and drawing and modeling applications.
Nelly Cheboi, TechLit Africa CEO and founder, enjoys a virtual reality demonstration in NASA Glenn’s GVIS Laboratory. Credit: NASA/Jef Janis“It was an absolute privilege to help these kids and being a part of it,” said Marc Frances, extended reality developer and former NASA Glenn intern. “We do a lot of outreach events and try to influence kids from every part of life to become an engineer and be part of something that’s bigger than themselves.”
Students learn digital skills in rural primary schools in Mogotio, Kenya.Credit: TechLit AfricaThe opportunity arose after Herb Schilling, a Glenn computer scientist, met Nelly Cheboi, TechLit Africa CEO and founder, through a virtual event in 2020. The two began talking about Cheboi’s work with Kenyan students, and Schilling felt inspired to get involved.
“I haven’t done a lot of the teaching,” Schilling said. “I let the interns do it, because I want to give them the experience and encourage them to do these kinds of things too.”
Nelly Cheboi tests a virtual reality demonstration in NASA Glenn’s GVIS Laboratory.Credit: NASA/Jef JanisUsing a beginner-level coding application, the interns showed Cheboi’s students how to design and animate a rocket that would launch into space. After several virtual lessons, Cheboi, CNN’s 2022 Hero of the Year, and her partner, Tyler Cinnamon, visited Glenn to learn more about NASA and meet Schilling in person.
“I think it has really helped shape our curriculum, Cheboi said. “For these kids to look at this experience as something normal to them really speaks volumes of the impact. It matters what environment you grow up into, and you really can only be it if you see it.”
Learn more about how to engage with NASA on the NASA Engages web page.
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Sols 4186-4188: Almost there… NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on May 14, 2024, Sol 4184 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 06:58:35 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSEarth planning day: Wednesday, May 15, 2024
The rover planning engineers yet again did a great job navigating through the large bedrock blocks that litter the terrain in front of us. We are getting ever closer to being able to cross the Gediz Vallis channel and associated deposits, a feature we identified long before landing and of high scientific interest. As a member of the group responsible for planning the observations we hope to get on the Gediz Vallis deposits and associated landforms (called the Channel Surfers), I am very excited to finally be at this point in the mission. To help decide where to drive onto the deposit, we are driving a little closer to the edge and taking extra post-drive imaging to aid in that decision. We are also acquiring a large Mastcam mosaic of an area of the deposit we hope to study in more detail, “Arc Pass.”
Before we drive, we will of course acquire lots of science observations from our current location. The workspace in front of the rover contained an interesting textured block that immediately drew all our attention – a polygonally patterned erosional feature (“Tuolumne Meadows”) that we were able to place the rover’s arm on for contact science. We will also be able to brush it and clear the dust before analyzing with APXS for chemistry and MAHLI for the fine-scale texture. ChemCam will also analyze the same spot, as well as the front face of the same block (“Wapama Falls”), which will also be documented by Mastcam. To compare with this block, we are also planning APXS and MAHLI on a separate, more typical looking bedrock block, “Parker Lakes.”
Looking a little further afield, the views continue to be stunning as we climb Mount Sharp, and so of course we wanted to document features of interest. The Yardang unit, high above us on Mount Sharp, is about to disappear from view, so we planned a ChemCam RMI mosaic to capture structures and textures. A little closer to the rover, we will also image another area of the “Pinnacle Ridge” section of the Gediz Vallis deposit to continue documenting the textures and structures associated with this relatively young feature in Gale crater.
The team also planned a series of observations to monitor environmental and atmospheric conditions. These included Navcam dust devil and suprahorizon movies, a line of sight scan and deck monitoring. Standard DAN and RAD round out this jam-packed plan.
As the APXS strategic planner this week, and as a Channel Surfer, I am excited for the downlink from this plan, and for the upcoming investigations of the Gediz Vallis deposit. To whet our appetite, we got down the results of APXS and MAHLI observations from the previous plan on an interesting textured, included block from the deposit. See the image associated with this post to marvel at the “Tenaya Lake” rock.
Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick
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Hubble Views Cosmic Dust Lanes
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Hubble Views Cosmic Dust Lanes This Hubble Space Telescope image showcases a nearly edge-on view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4753. ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. KelseyFeatured in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is a nearly edge-on view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4753. Lenticular galaxies have an elliptical shape and ill-defined spiral arms.
This image is the object’s sharpest view to date, showcasing Hubble’s incredible resolving power and ability to reveal complex dust structures. NGC 4753 resides around 60 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo and was first discovered by the astronomer William Herschel in 1784. It is a member of the NGC 4753 Group of galaxies within the Virgo II Cloud, which comprises roughly 100 galaxies and galaxy clusters.
This galaxy is likely the result of a galactic merger with a nearby dwarf galaxy roughly 1.3 billion years ago. NGC 4753’s distinct dust lanes around its nucleus probably accreted from this merger event.
Astronomers think that most of the mass in the galaxy lies in a slightly flattened, spherical halo of dark matter. Dark matter is called ‘dark’ because we cannot directly observe it, but astronomers think it comprises about 85% of all matter in the universe. Dark matter doesn’t appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, and therefore does not seem to emit, reflect, or refract light. We can only detect it by its gravitational influence on the matter we can see, called normal matter.
NGC 4753’s low-density environment and complex structure make it scientifically interesting to astronomers who can use the galaxy in models that test different theories of formation of lenticular galaxies. The galaxy has also hosted two known Type Ia supernovae. These types of supernovae are extremely important in the study of the expansion rate of the universe. Because they are the result of exploding white dwarfs which have companion stars, they always peak at the same brightness — 5 billion times brighter than the Sun. Knowing the intrinsic brightness of these events and comparing that with their apparent brightness allows astronomers to use them to measure cosmic distances, which in turn help us determine how the universe has expanded over time.
Text Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
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Tracing the Growth of Galaxies
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Aviary: A New NASA Software Platform for Aircraft Modelling
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Christopher Bennett, left, and Jason Kirk are seen in an Aeronautics Systems Analysis Branch laboratory at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, discussing computer code that is part of Aviary, a new digital modeling tool that helps engineers innovate new aircraft designs.NASA has created a new digital modelling tool for aeronautical engineers to innovate new aircraft designs, building on decades of experience using highly advanced computer code for aviation.
Using this tool, researchers can create simulations of conceptual aircraft featuring never-flown technology and receive detailed data about how it would work.
Named “Aviary” for enclosures where birds are kept and studied, the tool creates virtual models of airplanes based on information provided by the user. In this analogy, Aviary is the enclosure, and the birds are the virtual airplane models.
Researchers can input information about an aircraft’s shape, range, and other characteristics. Then, Aviary creates a corresponding digital model of that airplane.
“Aviary is flexible enough that you can decide what you want to learn more about, then configure it to teach you.”Jennifer Gratz
Aviary Task Lead
Aviary is a significant leap in progress. Unlike past aviation modelling tools, Aviary can link with other codes and programs to expand and customize its capabilities.
“We wanted to make it easy to extend the code and tie it in with other tools,” said Jennifer Gratz, who leads Aviary’s integration and development. “Aviary is intentionally designed to be able to integrate disciplines together more tightly.”
Aviary is free and accessible to all. The code continues to grow as contributions are made by the public. The code is hosted on GitHub, along with its key documentation.
This image of a Transonic Truss Braced Wing airplane represents a digital model created by Aviary, a new computer modelling tool aeronautical engineers can use to innovate new aircraft designs, The Aviary code builds on NASA’s decades of experience using highly advanced computer code for aviation. Aviary is a resource created by NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies project. Building Aviary from a LegacyAviary is a descendant of two prior modelling tools created by NASA decades ago: the Flight Optimization System, and the General Aviation Synthesis Program.
These older legacy codes, however, were comparatively limited in terms of flexibility and detail.
“The older legacy codes were not designed to handle these more modern-day concepts such as hybrid-electric aircraft,” Gratz said. “They viewed certain systems as more separated than they really are in the vehicles we envision now.”
Aviary bridges that gap, enabling researchers to seamlessly incorporate detailed information reflecting the more integrated, enmeshed systems needed to model newer aircraft.
The team began creating Aviary by taking the best parts of the legacy codes and merging them, then adding in new code to make Aviary extendable and compatible with other tools.
“That’s one of its most important characteristics,” Gratz said. “Aviary is flexible enough that you can decide what you want to learn more about, then configure it to teach you.”
Members of the NASA team responsible for developing Aviary, a new computer-based digital modeling tool for designing aircraft, pose for a group picture outside an office building at the Langley Research Center in Virginia. Front row from left: Eric Hendricks, Rob Falck, Jennifer Gratz, Ben Phillips, Eliot Aretskin-Hariton, and Ken Moore. Back row from left: Darrell (DJ) Caldwell, Greg Wrenn, Carl Recine, John Jasa, and Jason Kirk.NASA / Rich Wahls Expanded CapabilitiesLearning specific, tailored information ahead of time can inform researchers what direction the aircraft design should take before doing costly flight tests.
Instead of having to use built-in estimates for certain parameters such as a battery’s power level, as would be done with past tools, Aviary users can easily use information generated by other tools with specific information catered to batteries.
Another capability Aviary touts is gradients. A gradient, essentially, is how much a certain value affects another value when changed.
Say a researcher is considering how powerful a battery should be to successfully power an aircraft. Using older systems, the researcher would have to run a separate simulation for each battery power level.
But Aviary can accomplish this task in one simulation by considering gradients.
“You could tell Aviary to figure out how powerful a battery should be to make using it worthwhile. It will run a simulated flight mission and come back with the result,” Gratz said. “Older tools can’t do that without modification.”
Aviary can simulate all these concepts simultaneously – no other modelling tool can easily consider prior legacy tools, separate tools introduced by users, and gradients.
“Other tools have some of these things, but none of them have all of these things,” Gratz said.
What’s more, Aviary comes with extensive documentation.
“Documentation is another important part of Aviary,” Gratz said. “If nobody can understand the tool, nobody can use it. By having a good record of Aviary’s development and changes, more people can benefit. You don’t have to be an expert to use it.”
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ames Research Center in California, and Langley Research Center in Virginia contributed to Aviary.
About the AuthorJohn GouldAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateJohn Gould is a member of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is dedicated to public service and NASA’s leading role in scientific exploration. Prior to working for NASA Aeronautics, he was a spaceflight historian and writer, having a lifelong passion for space and aviation.
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Share Details Last Updated May 16, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactDiana Fitzgeralddiana.r.fitzgerald@nasa.gov Related TermsNASA Earns Best Place to Work in Government for 12 Straight Years
NASA was named Thursday as the 2023 Best Place to Work in the Federal Government – large agency – for the 12th year in a row by the Partnership for Public Service. The title serves as a reflection of employee satisfaction with the workplace and functioning of the overall agency as NASA explores the unknown and discovers new knowledge for the benefit of humanity.
“Once again, NASA has shown that with the world’s finest workforce, we can reach the stars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Through space exploration, advances in aviation, groundbreaking science, new technologies, and more, the team of wizards at NASA do what is hard to achieve what is great. That’s the pioneer spirit that makes NASA the best place to work in the federal government. With this ingenuity and passion, we will continue to innovate for the benefit of all and inspire the world.”
The agency’s workforce explored new frontiers in 2023, including shattering an American record for longest astronaut spaceflight, announcing the Artemis II crew, launching the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, partnering on a sustainable flight demonstration later designated as X-66, and celebrating a year of science gathered from the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope. Feats beyond our atmosphere persisted with NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission – the first U.S. mission to collect an asteroid sample. Insights from the asteroid data will further NASA’s studies on celestial objects, while the agency also continues its pursuit to return astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis campaign.
Along with being the 65th anniversary of the agency, 2023 brought new climate data with the launching of the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center and Earth Information Center, new perspectives on Earth’s surface water through NASA’s SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission, and accrued air quality data from NASA’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) mission.
The Partnership for Public Service began to compile the Best Places to Work rankings in 2003 to analyze federal employee’s viewpoints of leadership, work-life balance, and other factors of their job. A formula is used to evaluate employee responses to a federal survey, dividing submissions into four groups: large, midsize, and small agencies, in addition to their subcomponents.
Read about the Best Places to Work for 2023 online.
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NASA, European Space Agency Unite to Land Europe’s Rover on Mars
NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) announced Thursday they signed an agreement to expand NASA’s work on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, an ESA-led mission launching in 2028 that will search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.
With this memorandum of understanding, the NASA Launch Services Program will procure a U.S. commercial launch provider for the Rosalind Franklin rover. The agency will also provide heater units and elements of the propulsion system needed to land on Mars. A new instrument on the rover will be the first drill to a depth of up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) deep below the surface to collect ice samples that have been protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.
“The Rosalind Franklin rover’s unique drilling capabilities and onboard samples laboratory have outstanding scientific value for humanity’s search for evidence of past life on Mars,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA supports the Rosalind Franklin mission to continue the strong partnership between the United States and Europe to explore the unknown in our solar system and beyond.”
Through an existing, separate partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), NASA is contributing key components to the Rosalind Franklin rover’s primary science instrument, the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, that will search for the building blocks of life in the soil samples.
NASA has a longstanding partnership with the Department of Energy to use radioisotope power sources on the agency’s space missions and will be partnering again with the Energy Department for the use of lightweight radioisotope heater units for the rover.
The Rosalind Franklin rover mission complements the Mars Sample Return multi-mission campaign led by both agencies.
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Space Physics and Space Weather Scientist Dr. Yihua (Eva) Zheng
How NASA Tracked the Most Intense Solar Storm in Decades
NASA/SDO
May 2024 has already proven to be a particularly stormy month for our Sun. During the first full week of May, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades — and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.
We’ll be studying this event for years. It will help us test the limits of our models and understanding of solar storms.Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla
Acting Director of NASA’s Moon to Mars (M2M) Space Weather Analysis Office
“We’ll be studying this event for years,” said Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla, acting director of NASA’s Moon to Mars (M2M) Space Weather Analysis Office. “It will help us test the limits of our models and understanding of solar storms.”
From May 3 through May 9, 2024, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory observed 82 notable solar flares. The flares came mainly from two active regions on the Sun called AR 13663 and AR 13664. This video highlights all flares classified at M5 or higher with nine categorized as X-class solar flares.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
The first signs of the solar storm started late on May 7 with two strong solar flares. From May 7 – 11, multiple strong solar flares and at least seven CMEs stormed toward Earth. Eight of the flares in this period were the most powerful type, known as X-class, with the strongest peaking with a rating of X5.8. (Since then, the same solar region has released many more large flares, including an X8.7 flare — the most powerful flare seen this solar cycle — on May 14.)
On May 14, 2024, the Sun emitted a strong solar flare. This solar flare is the largest of Solar Cycle 25 and is classified as an X8.7 flare.NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Traveling at speeds up to 3 million mph, the CMEs bunched up in waves that reached Earth starting May 10, creating a long-lasting geomagnetic storm that reached a rating of G5 — the highest level on the geomagnetic storm scale, and one that hasn’t been seen since 2003.
“The CMEs all arrived largely at once, and the conditions were just right to create a really historic storm,” said Elizabeth MacDonald, NASA heliophysics citizen science lead and a space scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
When the storm reached Earth, it created brilliant auroras seen around the globe. Auroras were even visible at unusually low latitudes, including the southern U.S. and northern India. The strongest auroras were seen the night of May 10, and they continued to illuminate night skies throughout the weekend. Thousands of reports submitted to the NASA-funded Aurorasaurus citizen science site are helping scientists study the event to learn more about auroras.
“Cameras — even standard cell phone cameras — are much more sensitive to the colors of the aurora than they were in the past,” MacDonald said. “By collecting photos from around the world, we have a huge opportunity to learn more about auroras through citizen science.”
A coronal aurora appeared over southwestern British Columbia on May 10, 2024. NASA/Mara Johnson-GrohBy one measure of geomagnetic storm strength, called the disturbance storm time index which dates back to 1957, this storm was similar to historic storms in 1958 and 2003. And with reports of auroras visible to as low as 26 degrees magnetic latitude, this recent storm may compete with some of the lowest-latitude aurora sightings on record over the past five centuries, though scientists are still assessing this ranking.
“It’s a little hard to gauge storms over time because our technology is always changing,” said Delores Knipp, a research professor in the Smead Aerospace Engineering Science Department and a senior research associate at the NCAR High Altitude Observatory, in Boulder, Colorado. “Aurora visibility is not the perfect measure, but it allows us to compare over centuries.”
MacDonald encourages people to continue submitting aurora reports to Aurorasaurus.org, noting that even non-sightings are valuable for helping scientists understand the extent of the event.
Leading up to the storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, which is responsible for forecasting solar storm impacts, sent notifications to operators of power grids and commercial satellites to help them mitigate potential impacts.
Warnings helped many NASA missions brace for the storm, with some spacecraft preemptively powering down certain instruments or systems to avoid issues. NASA’s ICESat-2 — which studies polar ice sheets — entered safe mode, likely because of increased drag due to the storm.
Looking ForwardBetter data on how solar events influence Earth’s upper atmosphere is crucial to understanding space weather’s impact on satellites, crewed missions, and Earth- and space-based infrastructure. To date, only a few limited direct measurements exist in this region. But more are coming. Future missions, such as NASA’s Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) and Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (DYNAMIC), will be able to see and measure exactly how Earth’s atmosphere responds to the energy influxes that occur during solar storms like this one. Such measurements will also be valuable as NASA sends astronauts to the Moon with the Artemis missions and, later, to Mars.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of an X5.8 solar flare peaking at 9:23 p.m. EDT on May 10, 2024. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. NASA SDOThe solar region responsible for the recent stormy weather is now turning around the backside of the Sun, where its impacts can’t reach Earth. However, that doesn’t mean the storm is over. NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), currently located at about 12 degrees ahead of Earth in its orbit, will continue watching the active region an additional day after it is no longer visible from Earth.
“The active region is just starting to come into view of Mars,” said Jamie Favors, director for the NASA Space Weather Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We’re already starting to capture some data at Mars, so this story only continues.”
By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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