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NASA Invites Media to ‘NASA in the Park’ June 22
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Downtown Huntsville Inc.Media are invited to attend a celebration of space and the Rocket City during NASA in the Park on Saturday, June 22, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT at Big Spring Park East in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA and partners will pack the park with exhibits, music, food vendors, and hands-on activities for all ages. This event is free and open to the public.
Joseph Pelfrey, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and local leaders will kick off the program of activities at 10:15 a.m. at the central stage on the south side of the park.
Pelfrey and other NASA team members will be available to speak with reporters between 10:30 and 11 a.m. near the stage.
Reporters interested in interviews should contact Molly Porter, molly.a.porter@nasa.gov or 256-424-5158.
For more information about Marshall, visit:
Molly Porter
Marshall Space Flight Center
256-424-5158
molly.a.porter@nasa.gov
In early May, widespread flooding and landslides occurred in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande…
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Augmented Reality Speeds Spacecraft Construction at NASA Goddard
- Augmented reality tools have helped technicians improve accuracy and save time on fit checks for the Roman Space Telescope being assembled at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
- In one instance, manipulating a digital model of Roman’s propulsion system into the real telescope structure revealed the planned design would not fit around existing wiring. The finding helped avoid a need to rebuild any components.
- The R&D team at Goddard working on this AR project suggests broader adoption in the future could potentially save weeks of construction time and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Technicians armed with advanced measuring equipment, augmented reality headsets, and QR codes virtually checked the fit of some Roman Space Telescope structures before building or moving them through facilities at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“We’ve been able to place sensors, mounting interfaces, and other spacecraft hardware in 3D space faster and more accurately than previous techniques,” said NASA Goddard engineer Ron Glenn. “That could be a huge benefit to any program’s cost and schedule.”
Projecting digital models onto the real world allows the technicians to align parts and look for potential interference among them. The AR heads-up display also enables precise positioning of flight hardware for assembly with accuracy down to thousandths of an inch.
Engineers wearing augmented reality headsets test the placement of a scaffolding design before it is built to ensure accurate fit in the largest clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.NASAUsing NASA’s Internal Research and Development program, Glenn said his team keeps finding new ways to improve how NASA builds spacecraft with AR technology in a project aiding Roman’s construction at NASA Goddard.
Glenn said the team has achieved far more than they originally sought to prove. “The original project goal was to develop enhanced assembly solutions utilizing AR and find out if we could eliminate costly fabrication time,” he said. “We found the team could do so much more.”
For instance, engineers using a robotic arm for precision measuring and 3D laser scanning mapped Roman’s complex wiring harness and the volume within the spacecraft structure.
“Manipulating the virtual model of Roman’s propulsion assembly into that frame, we found places where it interfered with the existing wiring harness, team engineer Eric Brune said. “Adjusting the propulsion assembly before building it allowed the mission to avoid costly and time-consuming delays.”
Roman’s propulsion system was successfully integrated earlier this year.
The Roman Space Telescope is a NASA mission designed to explore dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.Equipped with a powerful telescope and advanced instruments, it aims to unravel mysteries of the universe and expand our understanding of cosmic phenomena. Roman is scheduled to launch by May 2027.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio
Considering the time it takes to design, build, move, redesign, and rebuild, Brune added, their work saved many workdays by multiple engineers and technicians.
“We have identified many additional benefits to these combinations of technologies,” team engineer Aaron Sanford said. “Partners at other locations can collaborate directly through the technicians’ point of view. Using QR codes for metadata storage and document transfer adds another layer of efficiency, enabling quick access to relevant information right at your fingertips. Developing AR techniques for reverse engineering and advanced structures opens many possibilities such as training and documentation.”
The technologies allow 3D designs of parts and assemblies to be shared or virtually handed off from remote locations. They also enable dry runs of moving and installing structures as well as help capture precise measurements after parts are built to compare to their designs.
Adding a precision laser tracker to the mix can also eliminate the need to create elaborate physical templates to ensure components are accurately mounted in precise positions and orientations, Sanford said. Even details such as whether a technician can physically extend an arm inside a structure to turn a bolt or manipulate a part can be worked out in augmented reality before construction.
During construction, an engineer wearing a headset can reference vital information, like the torque specifications for individual bolts, using a hand gesture. In fact, the engineer could achieve this without having to pause and find the information on another device or in paper documents.
In the future, the team hopes to help integrate various components, conduct inspections, and document final construction. Sanford said, “it’s a cultural shift. It takes time to adopt these new tools.”
“It will help us rapidly produce spacecraft and instruments, saving weeks and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Glenn said. “That allows us to return resources to the agency to develop new missions.”
This project is part of NASA’s Center Innovation Fund portfolio for fiscal year 2024 at Goddard. The Center Innovation Fund, within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, stimulates and encourages creativity and innovation at NASA centers while addressing the technology needs of NASA and the nation.
To learn more, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/center-innovation-fund/
By Karl B. Hille
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Why Scientists Are Intrigued by Air in NASA’s Mars Sample Tubes
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Perseverance rover viewed these dust devils swirling across the surface of Mars on July 20, 2021. Scientists want to study the air trapped in samples being collected in metal tubes by Perseverance. Those air samples could help them better understand the Martian atmosphere.NASA/JPL-CaltechTucked away with each rock and soil sample collected by the agency’s Perseverance rover is a potential boon for atmospheric scientists.
Atmospheric scientists get a little more excited with every rock core NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover seals in its titanium sample tubes, which are being gathered for eventual delivery to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. Twenty-four have been taken so far.
Most of those samples consist of rock cores or regolith (broken rock and dust) that might reveal important information about the history of the planet and whether microbial life was present billions of years ago. But some scientists are just as thrilled at the prospect of studying the “headspace,” or air in the extra room around the rocky material, in the tubes.
This image shows a rock core about the size of a piece of chalk in a sample tube housed within the drill of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Once the rover seals the tube, air will be trapped in the extra space in the tube — seen here in the small gap (called “headspace”) above the rock. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS A sealed tube containing a sample of the Martian surface collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is seen here, after being deposited with other tubes in a “sample depot.” Other filled sample tubes are stored within the rover.NASA/JPL-CaltechThey want to learn more about the Martian atmosphere, which is composed mostly of carbon dioxide but could also include trace amounts of other gases that may have been around since the planet’s formation.
“The air samples from Mars would tell us not just about the current climate and atmosphere, but how it’s changed over time,” said Brandi Carrier, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It will help us understand how climates different from our own evolve.”
The Value of HeadspaceAmong the samples that could be brought to Earth is one tube filled solely with gas deposited on the Martian surface as part of a sample depot. But far more of the gas in the rover’s collection is within the headspace of rock samples. These are unique because the gas will be interacting with rocky material inside the tubes for years before the samples can be opened and analyzed in laboratories on Earth. What scientists glean from them will lend insight into how much water vapor hovers near the Martian surface, one factor that determines why ice forms where it does on the planet and how Mars’ water cycle has evolved over time.
Scientists also want a better understanding of trace gases in the air at Mars. Most scientifically tantalizing would be the detection of noble gases (such as neon, argon, and xenon), which are so nonreactive that they may have been around, unchanged in the atmosphere, since forming billions of years ago. If captured, those gases could reveal whether Mars started with an atmosphere. (Ancient Mars had a much thicker atmosphere than it does today, but scientists aren’t sure whether it was always there or whether it developed later). There are also big questions about how the planet’s ancient atmosphere compared with early Earth’s.
The headspace would additionally provide a chance to assess the size and toxicity of dust particles — information that will help future astronauts on Mars.
“The gas samples have a lot to offer Mars scientists,” said Justin Simon, a geochemist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who is part of a group of over a dozen international experts that helps decide which samples the rover should collect. “Even scientists who don’t study Mars would be interested because it will shed light on how planets form and evolve.”
Apollo’s Air SamplesIn 2021, a group of planetary researchers, including scientists from NASA, studied the air brought back from the Moon in a steel container by Apollo 17 astronauts some 50 years earlier.
“People think of the Moon as airless, but it has a very tenuous atmosphere that interacts with the lunar surface rocks over time,” said Simon, who studies a variety of planetary samples at Johnson. “That includes noble gases leaking out of the Moon’s interior and collecting at the lunar surface.”
The way Simon’s team extracted the gas for study is similar to what could be done with Perseverance’s air samples. First, they put the previously unopened container into an airtight enclosure. Then they pierced the steel with a needle to extract the gas into a cold trap — essentially a U-shaped pipe that extends into a liquid, like nitrogen, with a low freezing point. By changing the temperature of the liquid, scientists captured some of the gases with lower freezing points at the bottom of the cold trap.
“There’s maybe 25 labs in the world that manipulate gas in this way,” Simon said. Besides being used to study the origin of planetary materials, this approach can be applied to gases from hot springs and those emitted from the walls of active volcanoes, he added.
Of course, those sources provide much more gas than Perseverance has in its sample tubes. But if a single tube doesn’t carry enough gas for a particular experiment, Mars scientists could combine gases from multiple tubes to get a larger aggregate sample — one more way the headspace offers a bonus opportunity for science.
More About the MissionA key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover is also characterizing the planet’s geology and past climate, which paves the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance:
News Media ContactsAndrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov
Karen Fox / Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-285-1600 / 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov
2024-087
Share Details Last Updated Jun 20, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 5 min read Stephanie Duchesne: Leading with Integrity and Openness for CLDP Article 22 hours ago 3 min read Johnson Celebrates LGBTQI+ Pride Month: Meet Maya FarrHenderson Article 4 days ago 3 min read Johnson Celebrates LGBTQI+ Pride Month: Meet Michael Chandler Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related TopicsMissions
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NASA CubeSats Loaded for Launch
Eight CubeSats that are part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative have been integrated into Firefly Aerospace’s deployment hardware and are ready to be encapsulated into the payload fairing of Firefly’s Alpha rocket. The launch, named “Noise of Summer,” will lift off early this summer from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
University students from several schools, along with some technicians from NASA, brought their small satellites to Firefly for integration with the rocket. The satellites are designed to perform a range of scientific experiments and technical demonstrations including high-speed communications, cosmic ray detection, climate monitoring, and new de-orbiting techniques.
The CubeSats on the ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) manifest are:
- CatSat – University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
- KUbe-Sat-1 – University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
- MESAT1 – University of Maine, Orono, Maine
- R5-S4 – NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
- R5-S2-2.0 – NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston
- SOC-i – University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- TechEdSat-11 – NASA’s Ames Research Center, California’s Silicon Valley
- Serenity – Teachers in Space
Students are heavily involved in all aspects of their mission from developing, assembling, and testing payloads to working with NASA and the launch vehicle integration teams. The CubeSats are held to rigorous standards like that of the primary spacecraft.
Firefly Aerospace is one of three companies selected under NASA’s Launch Services Program Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contract awarded in December 2020. These VCLS Demo 2 missions can tolerate a higher level of risk and help create opportunities for new launch vehicles, helping grow the launch vehicle market while increasing access to space for small spacecraft and science missions.
Giant Batteries Deliver Renewable Energy When It’s Needed
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) In developing its flow battery, ESS drew from groundbreaking research and development conducted by the space agency more than 40 years ago. Pictured here, a 200-watt demonstration unit of the flow battery NASA built in the 1970s and 1980s.Credit: NASASolar power is abundant – when the Sun is shining. Wind power is steady – when the wind is blowing. However, creating a steady electricity supply from intermittent power sources is a challenge. NASA was focused on this problem more than 45 years ago when the agency designed a new type of liquid battery during the energy price shocks of the 1970s. While engineers continued over the following decades to develop flow batteries, as they’re now called, the technology has drawn even more attention in recent years, with the urgency of climate change powering a larger-scale transition to renewables like solar and wind.
It’s fair to say that flow batteries today owe something to the major push the technology received in the 1970s when a NASA team of chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineers developed an iron-chromium flow battery at Lewis Research Center – now Glenn Research Center – in Cleveland.
The NASA system involved two tanks of liquid electrolyte solutions, one infused with iron chloride and the other with chromium chloride. These electrolytes were pumped through the battery cell, triggering a chemical reaction through a membrane that separated the two solutions inside the battery. During charge, electrical energy was converted to chemical energy and stored in the electrolyte liquid. To discharge the energy, the process was reversed.
ESS flow batteries enable a steady supply of electricity from intermittent energy sources, such as wind and solar. They store up to 12 hours of energy and discharge it when needed. They can be built in shipping containers, like the one being installed in the picture here, or larger installations can be housed in a building.Credit: ESS Inc.Wilsonville, Oregon-based ESS Inc. built on NASA’s early work as the company developed its own flow batteries using only iron, salt, and water. When the ESS team began developing its battery in 2011, the company founders wanted to use iron as NASA had. They found they could pair iron with a simple salt solution, which was cheaper to obtain and easier to work with than the chromium mixture NASA had used.
ESS flow batteries are designed for power grids that are increasingly powered by intermittent wind and solar generation. The company’s systems store up to 12 hours of energy and are used to provide backup power to critical community facilities.
Read More Share Details Last Updated Jun 20, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 15 min read 55 Years Ago: One Month Until the Moon Landing Article 14 hours ago 4 min read NASA Engineer Honored as Girl Scouts ‘Woman of Distinction’ Article 20 hours ago 4 min read NASA Preserves Its Past at Kennedy While Building Future of Space Article 23 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related TopicsGlenn Research Center
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NASA Engineer Honored as Girl Scouts ‘Woman of Distinction’
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Danielle Koch, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, was honored by the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio as a 2024 Woman of Distinction. She accepted the award during a ceremony on May 16. Credit: Girl Scouts of North East Ohio/Andrew JordanYou’d think a NASA aerospace engineer who spends her days inside a giant dome researching how to make plane engines quieter and spacecraft systems more efficient would have a pretty booked schedule. Still, advocacy and mentoring, especially for women and girls in STEM, is something Danielle Koch always tries to say yes to.
For decades, Koch has tutored students, volunteered as a mentor for engineering challenges, and engaged Pre-K through Ph.D. classes with stories from her career at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Koch also works to recruit women and others from underrepresented groups to the field and find ways to remove barriers to their advancement.
For her efforts, Koch was recently recognized by the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio as a 2024 Woman of Distinction. The award, presented to Koch during a ceremony on May 16, celebrates women whose leadership contributes to the community, providing girls with positive role models. Koch says that diverse people and programs have similarly shaped her own career path.
“None of this is anything I’ve done myself; there are huge groups of people who are making change and making things better for all of us,” Koch said. “Every story I tell about me being a woman at NASA is really a story about them.”
Danielle Koch (right) is an aerospace engineer in the Acoustics Branch at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, where she works to make flight quieter and spacecraft systems more efficient.Credit: NASA/Jef JanisA Pittsburgh native and graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Koch began her career as a test engineer at NASA Glenn in 1990 as the only woman in her work group. While there were women around her, Koch says she did not see many senior-level female engineers or scientists “working ahead of her.” With determination and the “rock-solid” support of colleagues, family, and friends, Koch forged ahead, becoming a research aerospace engineer in NASA Glenn’s Acoustics Branch in 1998.
“She’s somebody that goes above and beyond almost all of the time, while using her knowledge and career to bring others up to her level,” said John Lucero, Koch’s supervisor and the chief of the Acoustics Branch at NASA Glenn.
Koch realized the landscape around her was evolving in 2016 when she sat down in one of NASA Glenn’s biggest conference rooms for the center’s annual Women Ignite workshop. It was the first time she’d seen the space entirely filled with women.
“It was striking,” Koch said. “Learning from each other and being visible to each other, it’s so huge.”
Koch points to insights gleaned from these workshops — which are focused on networking, skill-building, and empowerment — as propelling her forward, along with the center’s Women in STEM Leadership Development Program, launched to help the women of NASA Glenn connect and grow as leaders.
NASA Glenn Research Center aerospace engineer Danielle Koch gives a tour of the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory to a group of students in 2017.Credit: NASA/Marvin SmithKoch also spotlights the value of the Women at Glenn employee resource group, which organizes events and panels, shares job and volunteer opportunities, and provides a platform for addressing issues in the workplace.
“The employee resource group offers a great sense of community for women at the center,” said Women at Glenn co-chair and aerospace engineer Christine Pastor-Barsi. “When you feel like you’re unique, it’s good to know that there are others out there like you, even if you don’t always see them in the room.”
Koch says she’ll continue working as a mentor in the community and advocating for the diverse range of people who choose to take the leap into the STEM fields.
“It’s difficult to be the only one that’s visibly different in a room; it changes the way you communicate, the way you’re perceived,” Koch said. “It’s really important to reach out to people who are different from us and invite them to consider engineering as a career. We all benefit when we work with someone who’s different from ourselves.”
Get Involved + More Resources
- Learn about the Girls in STEM program at NASA Glenn, designed to inspire middle school students’ interest in STEM fields. The event features women working in STEM fields at NASA Glenn, an engaging STEM activity, and tours of NASA Glenn facilities.
- Continue celebrating International Women in Engineering Day with more inspiring stories of Women at NASA.
- Explore content from NASA’s observance of Women’s History Month.
- Discover how to engage with NASA experts.
NASA’s Chandra Peers Into Densest and Weirdest Stars
The supernova remnant 3C 58 contains a spinning neutron star, known as PSR J0205+6449, at its center. Astronomers studied this neutron star and others like it to probe the nature of matter inside these very dense objects. A new study, made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton, reveals that the interiors of neutron stars may contain a type of ultra-dense matter not found anywhere else in the Universe.
In this image of 3C 58, low-energy X-rays are colored red, medium-energy X-rays are green, and the high-energy band of X-rays is shown in blue. The X-ray data have been combined with an optical image in yellow from the Digitized Sky Survey. The Chandra data show that the rapidly rotating neutron star (also known as a “pulsar”) at the center is surrounded by a torus of X-ray emission and a jet that extends for several light-years. The optical data shows stars in the field.
The team in this new study analyzed previously released data from neutron stars to determine the so-called equation of state. This refers to the basic properties of the neutron stars including the pressures and temperatures in different parts of their interiors.
The authors used machine learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to compare the data to different equations of state. Their results imply that a significant fraction of the equations of state — the ones that do not include the capability for rapid cooling at higher masses — can be ruled out.
The researchers capitalized on some neutron stars in the study being located in supernova remnants, including 3C 58. Since astronomers have age estimates of the supernova remnants, they also have the ages of the neutron stars that were created during the explosions that created both the remnants and the neutron stars. The astronomers found that the neutron star in 3C 58 and two others were much cooler than the rest of the neutron stars in the study.
The team thinks that part of the explanation for the rapid cooling is that these neutron stars are more massive than most of the rest. Because more massive neutron stars have more particles, special processes that cause neutron stars to cool more rapidly might be triggered.
One possibility for what is inside these neutron stars is a type of radioactive decay near their centers where neutrinos — low mass particles that easily travel through matter — carry away much of the energy and heat, causing rapid cooling.
Another possibility is that there are types of exotic matter found in the centers of these more rapidly cooling neutron stars.
The Nature Astronomy paper describing these results is available here. The authors of the paper are Alessio Marino (Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) in Barcelona, Spain), Clara Dehman (ICE), Konstantinos Kovlakas (ICE), Nanda Rea (ICE), J. A. Pons (University of Alicante in Spain), and Daniele Viganò (ICE).
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/
Visual DescriptionThis is an image of the leftovers from an exploded star called 3C 58, shown in X-ray and optical light. At the center of the remnant is a rapidly spinning neutron star, called a pulsar, that presents itself as a bright white object that’s somewhat elongated in shape.
Loops and swirls of material, in shades of blue and purple, extend outward from the neutron star in many directions, resembling the shape of an octopus and its arms.
Surrounding the octopus-like structure is a cloud of material in shades of red that is wider horizontally than it is vertically. A ribbon of purple material extends to the left edge of the red cloud, curling upward at its conclusion. Another purple ribbon extends to the right edge of the red cloud, though it is less defined than the one on the other side. Stars of many shapes and sizes dot the entire image.
News Media ContactMegan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
Next Generation NASA Technologies Tested in Flight
Teams of NASA researchers put their next-generation technologies to the microgravity test in a series of parabolic flights that aim to advance innovations supporting the agency’s space exploration goals.
These parabolic flights provide a gateway to weightlessness, allowing research teams to interact with their hardware in reduced gravity conditions for intervals of approximately 22 seconds. The flights, which ran from February to April, took place aboard Zero Gravity Corporation’s G-FORCE ONE aircraft and helped to advance several promising space technologies.
Under the Fundamental Regolith Properties, Handling, and Water Capture (FLEET) project, researchers tested an ultrasonic blade technology in a regolith simulant at lunar and Martian gravities. On Earth, vibratory tools reduce the forces between the tool and the soil, which also lowers the reaction forces experienced by the system. Such reductions indicate the potential for mass savings for tool systems used in space.
This flight test aims to establish the magnitude of force reduction achieved by an ultrasonic tool on the Moon and Mars. Regolith interaction, including excavation, will be important to NASA’s resources to support long-duration lunar and Martian missions.
This experiment represents the success of an international effort three years in the making between NASA and Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.Erin Rezich
Project Principal Investigator
“This experiment represents the success of an international effort three years in the making between NASA and Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. It was a NASA bucket list item for me to conduct a parabolic flight experiment, and it was even more special to do it for my doctoral thesis work. I’m very proud of my team and everyone’s effort to make this a reality,” said Erin Rezich, project principal investigator at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
The FLEET project also has a separate payload planned for a future flight test on a suborbital rocket. The Vibratory Lunar Regolith Conveyor will demonstrate a granular material (regolith) transport system to study the vertical transport of lunar regolith simulants (soil) in a vacuum under a reduced gravity environment.
These two FLEET payloads increase the understanding of excavation behavior and how the excavated soil will be transported in a reduced gravity environment.
QuynhGiao Nguyen takes experiment notes while Pierre-Lucas Aubin-Fournier and George Butt oversee experiment operations during a soil reset period between parabolas.Zero-G 3D Printed Technologies Take on MicrogravityUnder the agency’s On-Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) project, researchers tested 3D printing technologies to ease the use of electronics and tools aboard the International Space Station.
Flying its first microgravity environment test, the ODME Advanced Toolplate team evaluated a new set of substantially smaller 3D printed tools that provide more capabilities and reduce tool changeouts. The toolplate offers eight swappable toolheads so that new technologies can be integrated after it is sent up to the space station. The 3D printer component enables in-space manufacturing of electronics and sensors for structural and crew-monitoring systems and multi-material 3D printing of metals.
“The development of these critical 3D printing technologies for microelectronics and semiconductors will advance the technology readiness of these processes and reduce the risk for planned future orbital demonstrations on the International Space Station.curtis hill
ODME Project Principal Investigator
Left to Right: Pengyu Zhang, Rayne Wolfe, and Jacob Kocemba (University of Wisconsin at Madison) control the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ink jet printer testing manufacturing processes that are relevant to semiconductors for the NASA On Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) project.Zero-GNASA researchers tested another 3D printing technology developed under the agency’s ODME project for manufacturing flexible electronics in space. The Space Enabled Advanced Devices and Semiconductors team is developing electrohydrodynamic inkjet printer technology for semiconductor device manufacturing aboard the space station. The printer will allow for printing electronics and semiconductors with a single development cartridge, which could be updated in the future for various materials systems.
(Left to right) Paul Deffenbaugh (Sciperio), Cadré Francis (NASA MSFC), Christopher Roberts (NASA MSFC), Connor Whitley (Sciperio), and Tanner Corby (Redwire Space Technologies) operate the On Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) Advanced Toolplate printer in zero gravity to demonstrate the potential capability of electronics manufacturing in space.Zero-G The On Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) Advanced Toolplate printer mills a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printed plastic substrate surface smooth in preparation for the further printing of electronic traces. Conducting this study in zero gravity allowed for analysis of Foreign Object Debris (FOD) capture created during milling.Zero-G Left to Right: Rayne Wolfe and Jacob Kocemba (University of Wisconsin at Madison) control the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ink jet printer testing manufacturing processes that are relevant to semiconductors for the NASA On Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) project.Zero-G Left to Right: Pengyu Zhang, Rayne Wolfe, and Jacob Kocemba (University of Wisconsin at Madison) control the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ink jet printer testing manufacturing processes that are relevant to semiconductors for the NASA On Demand Manufacturing of Electronics (ODME) project.Zero-GNASA’s Flight Opportunities program supported testing various technologies in a series of parabolic flights earlier this year. These technologies are managed under NASA’s Game Changing Development program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Space Enabled Advanced Devices and Semiconductors technology collaborators included Intel Corp., Tokyo Electron America, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Arizona State University, and Iowa State University. The Space Operations Mission Directorate’s In-Space Production Applications also supports this technology. Advanced Toolplate Technology collaborated with Redwire and Sciperio. The Ultrasonic Blade technology is a partnership with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, through an International Space Act Agreement.
For more information about the Game Changing Development program, visit: nasa.gov/stmd-game-changing-development/
For more information about the Flight Opportunities program, visit: nasa.gov/stmd-flight-opportunities/
Testing In-Space Manufacturing Techs and More in Flight Facebook logo @NASATechnology @NASA_Technology Share Details Last Updated Jun 20, 2024 EditorIvry Artis Related Terms Explore More 3 min read NSTGRO 2024 Article 7 days ago 3 min read NASA’s RASC-AL Competition Selects 2024 Winners Article 7 days ago 4 min read California Teams Win $1.5 Million in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAGame Changing Development
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Studying the Sun
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Science in Space: June 2024The Sun wields a huge influence on Earth. Its gravity holds our planet in its orbit, and solar energy drives the seasons, ocean currents, weather, climate, radiation belts, and auroras on Earth.
The solar wind, a flow of charged particles from the Sun, constantly bombards Earth’s magnetosphere, a vast magnetic shield around the planet. The Sun occasionally releases massive amounts of energy, creating solar geomagnetic storms that can interfere with communications and navigation and disrupt the electric power grid.
The colorful aurora borealis or Northern Lights and aurora australis or Southern Lights are created by the transfer of energy from solar electrons to molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Those molecules then release that energy in the form of light. Different molecules create specific colors, such as green from oxygen.
Because Earth’s magnetic field directs solar electrons toward the poles, auroras typically are visible only at high latitudes, such as in Canada in the north and Australia in the south. But solar storms can send the lights into much lower latitudes. During a series of large solar eruptions in May 2024, for example, the display could be seen as far south as Texas and California.
Satellites captured auroras visible across the globe on May 11, 2024.NOAANASA has multiple missions studying how the Sun and solar storms affect Earth and space travel. The International Space Station contributes to this research in several ways.
Improved Solar Energy MeasurementsThe station’s Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) measures solar irradiance, the solar energy Earth receives, and solar spectral irradiance, a measure of the Sun’s energy in individual wavelengths. Knowing the magnitude and variability of solar irradiance improves understanding of Earth’s climate, atmosphere, and oceans and enables more accurate predictions of space weather. Better predictions could in turn help protect humans and satellites in space and electric power transmission and radio communications on the ground.
The first five years of TSIS observations demonstrated improved long-term spectral readings and lower uncertainties than measurements from a previous NASA mission, the Solar Radiation and Climate satellite. The accuracy of TSIS observations could improve models of solar irradiance variability and contribute to a long-term record of solar irradiance data.
Earlier Sun Monitoring Installation of the Solar instruments on the space station during a spacewalk.NASAThe ESA (European Space Agency) Sun Monitoring on the External Payload Facility of Columbus, or Solar, collected data on solar energy output for more than a decade with three instruments covering most wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Different wavelengths emitted by the Sun are absorbed by and influence Earth’s atmosphere and contribute to our climate and weather. This monitoring helps scientists see how solar irradiance affects Earth and provides data to create models for predicting its influence.
One instrument, the Solar Variable and Irradiance Monitor, covered the near-ultraviolet, visible, and thermal parts of the spectrum and helped improve the accuracy of these measurements.
The SOLar SPECtral Irradiance Measurement instrument covered higher ranges of the solar spectrum. Its observations highlighted significant differences from previous solar reference spectra and models. Researchers also reported that repeated observations made it possible to determine a reference spectrum for the first year of the SOLAR mission, which corresponded to a solar minimum prior to Solar Cycle 24.
Solar activity rises and falls over roughly 11-year cycles. The current Solar Cycle 25 began in December 2019, and scientists predicted a peak in solar activity between January and October of 2024, which included the May storms.
The third instrument, SOLar Auto-Calibrating EUV/UV Spectrometers, measured the part of the solar spectrum between extreme ultraviolet and ultraviolet. Most of this highly energetic radiation is absorbed by the upper atmosphere, making it impossible to measure from the ground. Results suggested that these instruments could overcome the problem of degrading sensitivity seen with other solar measuring devices and provide more efficient data collection.
Auroras from Space An aurora borealis display photographed from the International Space Station.NASAAstronauts occasionally photograph the aurora borealis from the space station and post these images.
For the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) AuroraMAX project, crew members photographed the aurora borealis over Yellowknife, Canada, between fall 2011 and late spring 2012. The space images, coordinated with a network of ground-based observatories across Canada, contributed to an interactive display at an art and science festival to inspire public interest in how solar activity affects Earth. The project also provides a live feed of the aurora borealis online every September through April.
Student Satellites Deployment of the Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer and other CubeSats from the space station.NASAThe Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer CubeSat measured variation in solar X-ray activity to help scientists understand how it affects Earth’s upper atmosphere. Solar X-ray activity is enhanced during solar flares. Students at the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics built the satellite, which deployed from the space station in early 2016.
Better data help scientists understand how solar events affect satellites, crewed missions, and infrastructure in space and on the ground. Ongoing efforts to measure how Earth’s atmosphere responds to solar storms are an important part of NASA’s plans for Artemis missions to the Moon and for later missions to Mars.
Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Research Communications Team
NASA’s Johnson Space Center
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Stephanie Duchesne: Leading with Integrity and Openness for CLDP
Of all the lessons learned throughout her NASA career, the importance of relationship and personal integrity is one that has been repeatedly reinforced for Stephanie Duchesne, a Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program (CLDP) project executive.
“Each person you work with has their own unique perspectives and concerns, and in order to solve a problem or resolve a conflict, it is critical that you try and understand where they are coming from and build trust that you will do what you say,” she said. “That has been true at all levels of my career. I’ve learned that I never had to be the smartest person in the room to be able to help bring out the best ideas of the team, ask the right questions, and come up with effective and efficient solutions – that it is the collective mind and cohesion of the team that really creates the best solutions.”
Stephanie Duchesne and her wife on a camping trip near Lake Livingston in Texas. Image courtesy of Stephanie DuchesneBased at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Duchesne has been part of CLDP since 2021, but her NASA career spans more than 20 years. She started in 2003 as a contractor for KBR Wyle Services, supporting the International Space Station Program as a biomedical engineering flight controller. She worked with the flight control and medical teams to address real-time anomalies and support crewmembers through key milestones and also spent seven months in Germany to help the ESA (European Space Agency) establish its own biomedical engineering flight controller program.
Duchesne then moved to the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) engineering team, where she worked with the fledgling Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Program as an ECLSS integrator and managed the integration strategy between NASA and Russian ECLSS on the International Space Station. She also served as the lead system manager for emergency response, helping to develop the space station’s ammonia leak response and related hardware. Duchesne became a civil servant in 2017 when she was hired as a Mission Evaluation Room (MER) manager for the program’s Vehicle Office.
Stephanie Duchesne (center right) and fellow International Space Station Mission Evaluation Room (MER) managers enjoy a lighthearted moment as a team. Image courtesy of Stephanie DuchesneDuchesne said being a MER manager was a standout experience. “It was both humbling and inspiring to come to work every day knowing that I could pull from the best minds in the space industry to find a solution to any problem that came our way,” she said. Still, she is hard-pressed to identify a favorite role or project among her varied experiences. “I’ve been fortunate to work in a lot of different areas at NASA and experience perspectives that have all provided challenges, successes, and lessons learned.”
In her current role with CLDP, Duchesne applies her extensive space station experience to leading NASA’s Space Act Agreement with commercial space station developer Starlab Space. “I love being part of the future of low Earth orbit and being able to provide these new companies with lessons learned from my years working station and connecting our partners with all the knowledgeable subject matter experts at NASA,” she said. “It feels rewarding to help the commercial industry stand on our shoulders to do new great things.”
Beyond her technical work, Duchesne strives to provide an example to her colleagues by being her authentic self in the workplace and honoring those who do the same. “I think it is so important for all of us to create safe spaces for each person to bring their whole selves to what we’re trying to achieve,” she said. “People’s unique life experiences and backgrounds provide rich space for connection and different perspectives on problems that NASA is trying to solve.”
Duchesne takes pride in NASA’s celebration of diversity in the workplace, and the value the agency places on all team members being able to live and work openly and authentically. “I feel fortunate to work in a community where I’m able to live this value in front of my children, and all the younger generations, so that it is no longer considered exceptional, but expected in their future,” she said.
Outside of work, Duchesne enjoys spending time with her wife – who also works for NASA – and their three children. “We love family road trips which give us time to connect and be together. Our dog Aston is the real boss of the house and joins us on all of our adventures.”
Stephanie Duchesne (foreground, center) and her family during a visit to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, on one of their family road trips.Image courtesy of Stephanie DuchesneShe hopes to share with her children and other members of the Artemis Generation a love for exploring the unknown and the confidence to achieve greatness in their own ways. “I look forward to them taking the reins, using the unique skills and techniques they have honed in today’s world – which is different than the one we grew up in,” she said. “I know this next generation will continue to accomplish great things for our world and beyond doing it their way, with open mindedness, acceptance, and integrity. I hope they remain inspired by human ingenuity and the amazing things we can accomplish when we work together, while holding reverence and awe toward all that we don’t yet know.”
First of Its Kind Detection Made in Striking New Webb Image
Alignment of bipolar jets confirms star formation theories
For the first time, a phenomenon astronomers have long hoped to directly image has been captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). In this stunning image of the Serpens Nebula, the discovery lies in the northern area (seen at the upper left) of this young, nearby star-forming region.
Astronomers found an intriguing group of protostellar outflows, formed when jets of gas spewing from newborn stars collide with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. Typically these objects have varied orientations within one region. Here, however, they are slanted in the same direction, to the same degree, like sleet pouring down during a storm.
Image: Serpens Nebula (NIRCam) In this image of the Serpens Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers found a grouping of aligned protostellar outflows within one small region (the top left corner). Serpens is a reflection nebula, which means it’s a cloud of gas and dust that does not create its own light, but instead shines by reflecting the light from stars close to or within the nebula.The discovery of these aligned objects, made possible due to Webb’s exquisite spatial resolution and sensitivity in near-infrared wavelengths, is providing information into the fundamentals of how stars are born.
“Astronomers have long assumed that as clouds collapse to form stars, the stars will tend to spin in the same direction,” said principal investigator Klaus Pontoppidan, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “However, this has not been seen so directly before. These aligned, elongated structures are a historical record of the fundamental way that stars are born.”
So just how does the alignment of the stellar jets relate to the rotation of the star? As an interstellar gas cloud crashes in on itself to form a star, it spins more rapidly. The only way for the gas to continue moving inward is for some of the spin (known as angular momentum) to be removed. A disk of material forms around the young star to transport material down, like a whirlpool around a drain. The swirling magnetic fields in the inner disk launch some of the material into twin jets that shoot outward in opposite directions, perpendicular to the disk of material.
In the Webb image, these jets are signified by bright clumpy streaks that appear red, which are shockwaves from the jet hitting surrounding gas and dust. Here, the red color represents the presence of molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
“This area of the Serpens Nebula – Serpens North – only comes into clear view with Webb,” said lead author Joel Green of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “We’re now able to catch these extremely young stars and their outflows, some of which previously appeared as just blobs or were completely invisible in optical wavelengths because of the thick dust surrounding them.”
Astronomers say there are a few forces that potentially can shift the direction of the outflows during this period of a young star’s life. One way is when binary stars spin around each other and wobble in orientation, twisting the direction of the outflows over time.
Stars of the SerpensThe Serpens Nebula, located 1,300 light-years from Earth, is only one or two million years old, which is very young in cosmic terms. It’s also home to a particularly dense cluster of newly forming stars (~100,000 years old), seen at the center of this image. Some of these stars will eventually grow to the mass of our Sun.
“Webb is a young stellar object-finding machine,” Green said. “In this field, we pick up sign posts of every single young star, down to the lowest mass stars.”
“It’s a very complete picture we’re seeing now,” added Pontoppidan.
So, throughout the region in this image, filaments and wisps of different hues represent reflected starlight from still-forming protostars within the cloud. In some areas, there is dust in front of that reflection, which appears here with an orange, diffuse shade.
This region has been home to other coincidental discoveries, including the flapping “Bat Shadow,” which earned its name when 2020 data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope revealed a star’s planet-forming disk to flap, or shift. This feature is visible at the center of the Webb image.
Video: A Tour Of The Serpens Nebula Future StudiesThe new image, and serendipitous discovery of the aligned objects, is actually just the first step in this scientific program. The team will now use Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) to investigate the chemical make-up of the cloud.
The astronomers are interested in determining how volatile chemicals survive star and planet formation. Volatiles are compounds that sublimate, or transition from a solid directly to a gas, at a relatively low temperature – including water and carbon monoxide. They’ll then compare their findings to amounts found in protoplanetary disks of similar-type stars.
“At the most basic form, we are all made of matter that came from these volatiles. The majority of water here on Earth originated when the Sun was an infant protostar billions of years ago,” Pontoppidan said. “Looking at the abundance of these critical compounds in protostars just before their protoplanetary disks have formed could help us understand how unique the circumstances were when our own solar system formed.”
These observations were taken as part of General Observer program 1611. The team’s initial results have been accepted in the Astrophysical Journal.
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).
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Science Paper: The science paper by J. Green et al., PDF (7.93 MB)
Media ContactsLaura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov, Rob Gutro – rob.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hanna Braun hbraun@stsci.edu Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Animation Video – “Exploring Star and Planet Formation”
Infographic – “Recipe for Planet Formation”
Science Snippets Video -“Dust and the Formation of Planetary Systems“
Interactive: Explore the jets emitted by young stars in multiple wavelengths
Related For Kids En Español 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 Jun 20, 2024 EditorStephen SabiaContactLaura Betzlaura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related TermsNASA Preserves Its Past at Kennedy While Building Future of Space
Current and former employees of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida gathered recently to celebrate the installation of a Florida Historical Marker cast in bronze at the location of the spaceport’s old headquarters building.
The first of its kind inside the center’s secure area, the marker is the latest example of the center’s commitment to remembering its rich history as it continues to launch humanity’s future.
At the forefront of NASA Kennedy’s commitment to preservation is Katherine Zeringue, who serves as cultural resources manager, overseeing the center’s historic resources from buildings to historic districts to archaeological sites.
“Traditional approaches attempt to preserve things to a specific time period, including historic materials,” Zeringue said. “But that’s a challenge here because we still actively use our historic assets, which need to be modified to accommodate new missions and new spacecraft. Therefore, we rely on an adaptive reuse approach, in which the active use of a historic property helps to ensure its preservation.”
Many iconic structures are still in service at NASA Kennedy, like the Beach House where Apollo astronauts congregated with their families, the Vehicle Assembly Building where NASA rockets are still stacked, the Launch Control Center, and Launch Complex 39A. All told, 83 buildings, seven historic districts, and one National Historic Landmark are either listed or are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
To conserve these resources, the spaceport follows a variety of federal laws, regulations, and executive orders, including the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. This includes making a reasonable and good faith effort to identify any historic properties under its care and considering how its decisions affect historic properties.
“The Cultural Resources Management Program aims to balance historic preservation considerations with the agency’s mission and mandate to ensure reliable access to space for government and commercial payloads,” Zeringue said. “Finding that proper balance is challenging in the dynamic environment of our spaceport.”
Perhaps no other location embodies the center’s commitment to the past and the future more than Launch Complex 39A. Created in 1965, the launch complex was initially designed to support the Saturn V rocket, which powered the agency’s Apollo Program as it made numerous trips to the Moon. Outside of launching Skylab in 1973, the pad stood unused following Apollo’s end in 1972 until the agency’s Space Shuttle Program debuted in 1981. The transition from Apollo to space shuttle saw Launch Complex 39A transform from support of a single-use rocket to supporting the nation’s first reusable space launch and landing system.
By the time the program ended in 2011, 135 space shuttle launches had taken place within Kennedy’s boundary, 82 of which were at Launch Complex 39A. Many of those were among the program’s most notable, including the flights of astronauts Sally Ride, NASA’s first woman in space, and Guion Bluford, NASA’s first Black astronaut in space, as well as the first flight to the newly created International Space Station in 1998.
The launch complex began another transformation in 2014 when NASA signed a 20-year lease agreement with SpaceX as part of Kennedy’s transformation into a multi-user spaceport. SpaceX reconfigured Launch Complex 39A to support its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which today launch robotic science missions and other government and commercial payloads, as well as crew and cargo to the space station. Apollo-era infrastructure is incorporated in the SpaceX Crew Launch Tower.
“Launch Complex 39A exemplifies the balance between historic preservation and supporting the mission,” Zeringue noted. “Each chapter of the space program brings change, and those changes become additional chapters in the center’s historical legacy as we continue to build the future in space exploration.”
The Marshall Star for June 18, 2024
By Savannah Bullard
After two days of live competitions, two teams from southern California are heading home with a combined $1.5 million from NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge.
Since 2020, competitors from around the world have competed in this challenge with the common goal of inventing robots that can excavate and transport the icy regolith on the Moon. The lunar South Pole is the targeted landing site for crewed Artemis missions, so utilizing all resources in that area, including the ice within the dusty regolith inside the permanently shadowed regions, is vital for the success of a sustained human lunar presence.
The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering, Valerie and Todd Mendenhall, receive the $1 million prize June 12, for winning the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville. With the Terra Engineering team at the awards ceremony are from left, Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University president; Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Marshall Space Flight center director; NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, and Majed El-Dweik, Alabama A&M University’s vice president of Research & Economic Development.NASA/Jonathan DealOn Earth, the mission architectures developed in this challenge aim to help guide machine design and operation concepts for future mining and excavation operations and equipment for decades.
“Break the Ice represents a significant milestone in our journey toward sustainable lunar exploration and a future human presence on the Moon,” said Joseph Pelfrey, center director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “This competition has pushed the boundaries of what is possible by challenging the brightest minds to devise groundbreaking solutions for excavating lunar ice, a crucial resource for future missions. Together, we are forging a future where humanity ventures further into the cosmos than ever before.”
The final round of the Break the Ice competition featured six finalist teams who succeeded in an earlier phase of the challenge. The competition took place at the Alabama A&M Agribition Center in Huntsville on June 11 and 12, where each team put their diverse solutions to the test in a series of trials, using terrestrial resources like gravity-offloading cranes, concrete slabs, and a rocky track with tricky obstacles to mimic the environment on the Moon.
The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering took home the top prize for their “Fracture” rover. Team lead Todd Mendenhall competed in NASA’s 2007 Regolith Excavation Challenge, facilitated through NASA’s Centennial Challenges, which led him and Valerie Mendenhall to continue the pursuit of solutions for autonomous lunar excavation.
A small space hardware business, Starpath Robotics, earned the second-place prize for its four-wheeled rover that can mine, collect, and haul material. The team, led by Saurav Shroff and lead engineer Mihir Gondhalekar, developed a robotic mining tool that features a drum barrel scraping mechanism for breaking into the tough lunar surface. This allows the robot to mine material quickly and robustly without sacrificing energy.
“This challenge has been pivotal in advancing the technologies we need to achieve a sustained human presence on the Moon,” said Kim Krome, the Acting Program Manager for NASA’s Centennial Challenges. “Terra Engineering’s rover, especially, bridged several of the technology gaps that we identified – for instance, being robust and resilient enough to traverse rocky landscapes and survive the harsh conditions of the lunar South Pole.”
Starpath Robotics earned the second place prize for its four-wheeled rover that can mine, collect, and haul material during the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge. From left, Matt Kruszynski, Saurav Shroff, Matt Khudari, Alan Hsu, David Aden, Mihir Gondhalekarl, Joshua Huang, and Aakash Ramachandran.NASA/Jonathan DealBeyond the $1.5 million in prize funds, three teams will be given the chance to use Marshall Space Flight Center’s thermal vacuum (TVAC) chambers to continue testing and developing their robots. These chambers use thermal vacuum technologies to create a simulated lunar environment, allowing scientists and researchers to build, test, and approve hardware for flight-ready use.
The following teams performed exceptionally well in the excavation portion of the final competition, earning these invitations to the TVAC facilities:
- Terra Engineering (Gardena, California)
- Starpath Robotics (Hawthorne, California)
- Michigan Technological University – Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (Houghton, Michigan)
“We’re looking forward to hosting three of our finalists at our thermal vacuum chamber, where they will get full access to continue testing and developing their technologies in our state-of-the-art facilities,” said Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, who supports NASA’s Centennial Challenges through Jacobs Space Exploration Group. “Hopefully, these tests will allow the teams to take their solutions to the next level and open the door for opportunities for years to come.”
NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, with support from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Ensemble Consultancy supports challenge competitors. Alabama A&M University, in coordination with NASA, supports the final competitions and winner event for the challenge.
Bullard, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc. employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
NASA Announces Winners of 2024 Student Launch CompetitionOver 1,000 students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched high-powered, amateur rockets on April 13, just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, as part of the agency’s annual Student Launch competition.
Teams of middle school, high school, college, and university students were tasked to design, build, and launch a rocket and scientific payload to an altitude between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, while making a successful landing and executing a scientific or engineering payload mission.
High school and collegiate student teams gathered just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to participate in the agency’s annual Student Launch competition April 13.Credits: NASA/Charles Beason“These bright students rise to a nine-month challenge that tests their skills in engineering, design, and teamwork,” said Kevin McGhaw, director of NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Southeast Region. “They are the Artemis Generation, the future scientists, engineers, and innovators who will lead us into the future of space exploration.”
NASA announced the University of Notre Dame is the overall winner of the agency’s 2024 Student Launch challenge, followed by Iowa State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A complete list challenge winners can be found on the agency’s student launch web page. NASA presented the 2024 Student Launch challenge award winners in a virtual award ceremony June 7.
Each year NASA implements a new payload challenge to reflect relevant missions. This year’s payload challenge is inspired by the Artemis missions, which seek to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
The complete list of award winners are as follows:
2024 Overall Winners
- First place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana
- Second place: Iowa State University, Ames
- Third place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
3D Printing Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Tennessee Chattanooga
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: First Baptist Church of Manchester, Manchester, Connecticut
Altitude Award
College Level:
- First place: Iowa State University, Ames
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: Morris County 4-H, Califon, New Jersey
Best-Looking Rocket Award:
College Level:
- First place: New York University, Brooklyn, New York
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: Notre Dame Academy High School, Los Angeles
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Reusable Launch Vehicle Innovative Payload Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Colorado Boulder
- Second place: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
- Third place: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Judge’s Choice Award:
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls, Iowa
- Second place: Young Engineers in Action, LaPalma, California
- Third place: First Baptist Church of Manchester, Manchester, Connecticut
Project Review Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Florida, Gainesville
AIAA Reusable Launch Vehicle Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Florida, Gainesville
- Second place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Third place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana
AIAA Rookie Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Colorado Boulder
Safety Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana
- Second place: University of Florida, Gainesville
- Third place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Social Media Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Colorado Boulder
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: Newark Memorial High School, Newark, California
STEM Engagement Award:
College Level:
- First place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana
- Second place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Third place: New York University, Brooklyn, New York
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: Notre Dame Academy High School, Los Angeles, California
- Second place: Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls, Iowa
- Third place: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
Service Academy Award:
First place: United States Air Force Academy, USAF Academy, Colorado
Vehicle Design Award:
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: First Baptist Church of Manchester, Manchester, Connecticut
- Second place: Explorer Post 1010, Rockville, Maryland
- Third place: Plantation High School, Plantation, Florida
Payload Design Award:
Middle/High School Level:
- First place: Young Engineers in Action, LaPalma, California
- Second place: Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls, Iowa
- Third place: Spring Grove Area High School, Spring Grove, Pennsylvania
Student Launch is one of NASA’s nine Artemis Student Challenges, activities which connect student ingenuity with NASA’s work returning to the Moon under Artemis in preparation for human exploration of Mars.
The competition is managed by Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). Additional funding and support are provided by NASA’s OSTEM via the Next Gen STEM project, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space, and Bastion Technologies.
Keith Savoy Named Deputy Director at Michoud Assembly FacilityKeith Savoy has been named deputy director of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, effective June 16.
Savoy will assist in managing the day-to-day operations of one of the world’s largest manufacturing facilities, where key elements of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), and Orion spacecraft are built. Michoud, a multi-tenant manufacturing site sitting on 829 acres with over 2 million square feet of manufacturing space, is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and provides facility infrastructure and capacity for federal, state, academic, and technology-based industry partners.
Keith Savoy has been named deputy director of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility.NASASavoy was the chief operating officer of Michoud Assembly Facility from 2022-2024, where he oversaw the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of the NASA-owned facility, helping sustain SLS and Orion production efforts and coordinating requirements and logistics with Michoud tenant leadership for approximately 3,500 Michoud employees.
He previously served as manager of the Office of Center Operations of Michoud from 2016-2022. His responsibilities included managing the facility’s planning, maintenance, design, construction, and engineering. Savoy also oversaw energy and water conservation, environmental permitting and compliance, industrial hygiene, and medical, security, and logistics services, where he was responsible for managing over $350 million of supplemental funding projects sitewide.
Savoy also held the position of lead engineer, Logistics and Operation Planning for NASA from 2007-2016 at Michoud as an expert consultant for all engineering aspects of the facility. He managed multi-phase projects and helped advance aerospace manufacturing at Michoud to meet the complex requirements of SLS and Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle programs, ensuring environmental compliance. Savoy worked closely with local, state, and federal environmental regulatory agencies to identify and resolve engineering and environmental issues. His expertise was a key contributor to ensuring NASA’s sustainable and environmental goals were achieved.
Prior to working for NASA, Savoy held several positions of increasing responsibility with Lockheed Martin from 1988-2007. As manager of Operational Planning and Layout, he was responsible for managing the Construction of Facilities. This required developing and implementing plans, outlining scope-of-work, overseeing large-scale project budgets, and Project Definition Rating assessment/score and 1509 development. Savoy implemented Six Sigma & Lean principles concepts to achieve many successes and identified innovative solutions and best practices to satisfy customer requirements. Savoy was also the manager of the Infrastructure Enhancement Team where he managed over 160 personnel and a $10 million budget.
Savoy has a Master of Science in environmental management from National Technological University in Fort Collins, Colorado, a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and a technical degree in industrial instrumentation from International Technical Institute in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Throughout his career, Savoy has received various awards including the NASA Honor Award Outstanding Leadership Medal, Director’s Commendation Honor Award, Safety Flight Awareness Awards, and several Silver Medal Group Achievement Awards.
‘NASA in the Park’ Returns to Rocket City June 22NASA in the Park is coming back to Big Spring Park East in Huntsville, Alabama, on June 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT. The event is free and open to the public.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, its partners, and collaborators will fill the park with space exhibits, music, food vendors, and hands-on activities for all ages. Marshall is teaming up with Downtown Huntsville Inc. for this unique celebration of space and the Rocket City.
“NASA in the Park gives us the opportunity to bring our work outside the gates of Redstone Arsenal and thank the community for their continuing support,” Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey said. “It’s the first time we’ve held the event since 2018, and we look forward to sharing this experience with everyone.”
Pelfrey will kick the event off with local leaders on the main stage. NASA speakers will spotlight topics ranging from space habitats to solar sails, and local rock band Five by Five will perform throughout the day.
“NASA Marshall is leading the way in this new era of space exploration, for the benefit of all humankind,” Pelfrey said. “We are proud members of the Rocket City community, which has helped us push the boundaries of science, technology, and engineering for nearly 65 years.”
Mission Success is in Our Hands: Baraka TrussBy Wayne Smith
Mission Success is in Our Hands is a safety initiative collaboration between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jacobs. As part of the initiative, eight Marshall team members are featured in testimonial banners placed around the center. This is the last in a Marshall Star series profiling team members featured in the testimonial banners. The Mission Success team also awards the Golden Eagle Award on a quarterly basis to Marshall and contractor personnel who are nominated by their peers or management. Candidates for this award have made significant, identifiable contributions that exceed normal job expectations to advance flight safety and mission assurance. Nominations for 2024 are open now online on Inside Marshall.
Baraka Truss is the Avionics and Software Branch chief at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA/Charles BeasonBaraka Truss is the Avionics and Software Branch chief in the Safety and Mission Assurance Organization, Vehicle Systems Department, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Her key responsibilities include being viewed as a leadership role model, “demonstrating commitment to the mission and NASA’s core values, creating the most impact for the greater agency, and engaging in activities that promote supervisory excellence and value beyond the immediate organization.”
Truss has worked at Marshall for 28 years. Her previous roles have been software engineer, Software Engineering Process Group lead, special assistant to the center director, Independent Assessment Team lead, Software Quality Discipline lead engineer, Software Assurance Team lead, and SLS (Space Launch System) Software chief safety officer.
A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Truss earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville.
Question: How does your work support the safety and success of NASA and Marshall missions?
Truss: My work involves daily managing and interactions with the avionics and software team members whose mission is to ensure the safety of hardware and software for various programs and projects at Marshall and NASA.
Question: What does the initiative campaign “Mission Success is in Our Hands” mean to you?
Truss: That when risks arise, we should be sure to listen to all sides and make informed decisions, be held accountable, and speak up for what is safe when we need to do so.
Question: Do you have a story or personal experience you can share that might help others understand the significance of mission assurance or flight safety? What did you learn from it?
Truss: In my experience, mission assurance requires you to “believe the unlikely.” I have learned that believing what you have never seen requires you to stretch your imagination, because we are prone to discount and devalue things that we have not seen. We are skeptical about things that have never been seen, never been done, never been achieved, or never been accomplished.
Because according to our limited logic if it’s never been seen, never been done, never been achieved, or never been accomplished, then it’s not likely to be seen, not likely to be done, not likely to be achieved, and not likely to be accomplished. Therefore, we see no need to attempt it, try it, believe it, or invest in it because while we’ll acknowledge that it’s possible, we quickly add it’s not probable, because our idea of likelihood is limited by our experience. My experiences working for NASA have stretched me to an amazing place of accountability, assurance, and mission success.
Question: How can we work together better to achieve mission success?
Truss: Again, by listening to all sides and making informed decisions, being held accountable, and speaking up for what is safe when we need to do so.
Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
That’s the Spirit: Marshall Team Members Show Support at Community Softball GameNASA shows its team spirit during the Armed Forces Celebration Community Softball Game on June 12 at Toyota Field. Marshall Space Flight Center’s Robert Champion and Jason Adam joined Team Redstone to take on the North Alabama Rockets, made up of community leaders. (Huntsville Sports Commission)
Coming in Hot: NASA’s Chandra Checks Habitability of ExoplanetsThis graphic shows a three-dimensional map of stars near the Sun. These stars are close enough that they could be prime targets for direct imaging searches for planets using future telescopes. The blue haloes represent stars that have been observed with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. The yellow star at the center of this diagram represents the position of the Sun. The concentric rings show distances of 5, 10, and 15 parsecs (one parsec is equivalent to roughly 3.2 light-years).
Astronomers are using these X-ray data to determine how habitable exoplanets may be based on whether they receive lethal radiation from the stars they orbit, as described in a press release. This type of research will help guide observations with the next generation of telescopes aiming to make the first images of planets like Earth.
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This video shows a three-dimensional map of stars near the Sun on the left side of the screen and a dramatic illustration of a star with a planet orbiting around it on the right side.Movie: Cal Poly Pomona/B. Binder; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.WeissResearchers examined stars that are close enough to Earth that telescopes set to begin operating in the next decade or two – including the Habitable Worlds Observatory in space and Extremely Large Telescopes on the ground – could take images of planets in the stars’ so-called habitable zones. This term defines orbits where the planets could have liquid water on their surfaces.
There are several factors influencing what could make a planet suitable for life as we know it. One of those factors is the amount of harmful X-rays and ultraviolet light they receive, which can damage or even strip away the planet’s atmosphere.
Based on X-ray observations of some of these stars using data from Chandra and XMM-Newton, the research team examined which stars could have hospitable conditions on orbiting planets for life to form and prosper. They studied how bright the stars are in X-rays, how energetic the X-rays are, and how much and how quickly they change in X-ray output, for example, due to flares. Brighter and more energetic X-rays can cause more damage to the atmospheres of orbiting planets.
The researchers used almost 10 days of Chandra observations and about 26 days of XMM observations, available in archives, to examine the X-ray behavior of 57 nearby stars, some of them with known planets. Most of these are giant planets like Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, while only a handful of planets or planet candidates could be less than about twice as massive as Earth.
These results were presented at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, by Breanna Binder (California State Polytechnic University in Pomona).
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge, Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.
NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster ResponseIn early May, widespread flooding and landslides occurred in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, leaving thousands of people without food, water, or electricity. In the following days, NASA teams provided data and imagery to help on-the-ground responders understand the disaster’s impacts and deploy aid.
Building on this response and similar successes, on June 13, NASA announced a new system to support disaster response organizations in the U.S. and around the world.
Members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue team in Adiyaman, Turkey, conducting rescue efforts in the wake of powerful earthquakes that struck the region in February 2023. NASA provided maps and data to support USAID and other regional partners during these earthquakes.USAID“When disasters strike, NASA is here to help – at home and around the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “As challenges from extreme weather grow, so too does the value of NASA’s efforts to provide critical Earth observing data to disaster-response teams on the frontlines. We’ve done so for years. Now, through this system, we expand our capability to help power our U.S. government partners, international partners, and relief organizations across the globe as they take on disasters – and save lives.”
The team behind NASA’s Disaster Response Coordination System gathers science, technology, data, and expertise from across the agency and provides it to emergency managers. The new system will be able to provide up-to-date information on fires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme events.
“The risk from climate-related hazards is increasing, making more people vulnerable to extreme events,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “This is particularly true for the 10% of the global population living in low-lying coastal regions who are vulnerable to storm surges, waves and tsunamis, and rapid erosion. NASA’s disaster system is designed to deliver trusted, actionable Earth science in ways and means that can be used immediately, to enable effective response to disasters and ultimately help save lives.”
Agencies working with NASA include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Agency for International Development – as well as international organizations such as World Central Kitchen.
“With this deliberate and structured approach, we can be even more effective in putting Earth science into action,” said Josh Barnes, at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Barnes manages the Disaster Response Coordination System.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers remarks June 13 during an event launching a new Disaster Response Coordination System that will provide communities and organizations around the world with access to science and data to aid disaster response. NASA/Bill IngallsNASA Disasters Team Aiding Brazil
When the floods and landslides ravaged parts of Brazil in May, officials from the U.S. Southern Command – working with the U.S. Space Force and Air Force, and regional partners – reached out to NASA for Earth-observing data.
NASA’s response included maps of potential power outages from the Black Marble project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Disaster response coordinators at NASA Goddard also reviewed high-resolution optical data – from the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program – to map more than 4,000 landslides.
Response coordinators from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology produced flood extent maps using data from the NASA and U.S. Geological Survey Landsat mission and from ESA’s (the European Space Agency) Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite. Response coordinators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center also provided photographs of the flooding taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Building on Previous Work
The Brazil event is just one of hundreds of responses NASA has supported over the past decade. The team aids decision-making for a wide range of natural hazards and disasters, from hurricanes and earthquakes to tsunamis and oil spills.
“NASA’s Disasters Program advances science for disaster resilience and develops accessible resources to help communities around the world make informed decisions for disaster planning,” said Shanna McClain, manager of NASA’s Disasters Program. “The new Disaster Response Coordination System significantly expands our efforts to bring the power of Earth science when responding to disasters.”
High-Speed Market Studies
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist concept of a high-speed point-to-point vehicle.NASA LangleyOwing to NASA’s Quesst mission and Commercial Supersonic Technology project, there is growing industry interest in commercial aircraft that fly faster than the speed of sound. In 2020, NASA funded two independent studies to investigate the economic viability of this potential market for high-speed commercial flight. Since then, NASA has funded additional studies to investigate the technology developments needed for these aircraft, as well as the regulatory and certification barriers that currently exist for aircraft that break the sound barrier.
Although the initial studies found an economically feasible market may exist for aircraft that fly between 2-4 times the speed of sound, additional studies have shown the most profitable market is at the lower end of this speed range. In addition, current restrictions on overland sonic booms, landing and takeoff noise, and engine emissions currently prohibit the operation of high-speed commercial aircraft. NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology and Hypersonic Technology projects are working to overcome the technological and regulatory barriers by partnering with industry and other government agencies. In addition, NASA hosts industry workshops to discuss high-speed commercial flight and to understand this evolving industry.
Presentations and reports from the market studies are available on the NASA Technical Reports Server:
Read More About Hypersonics Research Facebook logo @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 3 min read NASA Launches Rocket to Study Hypersonic Aircraft Article 2 years ago 2 min read Rocket Launch Scheduled March 21 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Article 2 years ago 1 min read AETC Hypersonic Facilities Article 8 years ago Keep Exploring Discover Related TopicsTechnology Transfer & Spinoffs
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
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Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactShannon Eichornshannon.eichorn@nasa.gov Related TermsNASA Releases Hubble Image Taken in New Pointing Mode
2 min read
NASA Releases Hubble Image Taken in New Pointing Mode This NASA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy NGC 1546.NASA, ESA, STScI, David Thilker (JHU)NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has taken its first new images since changing to an alternate operating mode that uses one gyro.
The spacecraft returned to science operations June 14 after being offline for several weeks due to an issue with one of its gyroscopes (gyros), which help control and orient the telescope.
This new image features NGC 1546, a nearby galaxy in the constellation Dorado. The galaxy’s orientation gives us a good view of dust lanes from slightly above and backlit by the galaxy’s core. This dust absorbs light from the core, reddening it and making the dust appear rusty-brown. The core itself glows brightly in a yellowish light indicating an older population of stars. Brilliant-blue regions of active star formation sparkle through the dust. Several background galaxies also are visible, including an edge-on spiral just to the left of NGC 1546.
Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 captured the image as part of a joint observing program between Hubble and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The program also uses data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, allowing scientists to obtain a highly detailed, multiwavelength view of how stars form and evolve.
The image represents one of the first observations taken with Hubble since transitioning to the new pointing mode, enabling more consistent science operations. The NASA team expects that Hubble can do most of its science observations in this new mode, continuing its groundbreaking observations of the cosmos.
“Hubble’s new image of a spectacular galaxy demonstrates the full success of our new, more stable pointing mode for the telescope,” said Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re poised now for many years of discovery ahead, and we’ll be looking at everything from our solar system to exoplanets to distant galaxies. Hubble plays a powerful role in NASA’s astronomical toolkit.”
Launched in 1990, Hubble has been observing the universe for more than three decades, recently celebrating its 34th anniversary. Read more about some of Hubble’s greatest scientific discoveries.
Resources Download the image above NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode Operating Hubble with Only One Gyroscope Hubble Pointing and Control Hubble Science Highlights Hubble Images Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubbleMedia Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.
Hubble Design
Hubble Science
Hubble’s Galaxies
Artemis, Architecture, and Lunar Science: SMD and ESDMD Associate Administrators visits Tokyo
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Artemis, Architecture, and Lunar Science: SMD and ESDMD Associate Administrators visits TokyoJune 18, 2024
At NASA we always say that exploration enables science, and science enables exploration. During a recent, quick trip to Tokyo, Japan with our Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), Cathy Koerner, I had an opportunity to share this message with our partners at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
We explore for several reasons but primarily to benefit humanity. How exactly does exploration benefit humanity? By accepting audacious challenges like retuning to the Moon and venturing on to Mars, we inspire and motivate current and future generations of scientists, engineers, problem solvers, and communicators to contribute to our mission and other national priorities. By conducting scientific investigations in deep space, on the Moon, and on Mars, we enhance our understanding of the universe and our place in it. And finally, what we achieve when we explore, how it’s accomplished, and who participates benefits international partnerships and global cooperation that are essential for enhancing the quality of life for all.
NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Nicky Fox, and Associate Administrator for the Exploration systems Development Mission Directorate, Cathy Koerner, meet with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Tokyo, Japan on June 11, 2024. Credits: NASAIn addition to bi-lateral meetings with our JAXA partners, Cathy and I co-presented at the International Space Exploration Symposium where I shared how every NASA Science division has a stake in Artemis. Cathy provided updates on the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, Gateway, human landing systems, and advanced spacesuits, and I talked about all of the incredible science we will conduct along the way. The Artemis campaign is a series of increasingly complex missions that provide ever-growing capabilities for scientific exploration of the Moon. From geology to solar, biological, and fundamental physics phenomena, exploration teaches about the earliest solar system environment: whether and how the bombardments of nascent worlds influenced the emergence of life, how the Earth and Moon formed and evolved, and how volatiles (like water) and other potential resources were distributed and transported throughout the solar system.
Together with our partners like JAXA, NASA is working towards establishing infrastructure for long-term exploration in lunar orbit and on the surface. For example, on Artemis III, JAXA will provide the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer instrument, which once installed near the lunar South Pole, will help collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, it’s interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the Moon. In April, the U.S. and Japan were proud to make a historic announcement for cooperation on the Moon. Japan will design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon. NASA will launch and deliver the rover, and provide two opportunities for Japanese astronauts to travel to the lunar surface. This historic agreement was highlighted by President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida and is an example of the strong relationship between the United States and Japan. The enclosed and pressurized rover will be able to accommodate two astronauts on the lunar surface for 30 days, and will have a lifespan of about 10 years, enabling it to be used for multiple missions. It will enable longer-duration expeditions, so that astronauts can conduct more moonwalks and perform more science in geographically diverse areas near the lunar South Pole.
Artemis is different than anything humanity has ever done before. The Artemis campaign will bring the world along for this historic journey, forever changing humanity’s perspective of our place in the universe. This is the start of a lunar ecosystem, where we’ll do more science than we can dream of, together.
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NASA Awards Logistic Services, Management Contract
NASA has awarded the Goddard Logistics Services Contract to TRAX International Corporation of Las Vegas to provide logistics services and management for NASA missions.
The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract includes a base period and up to five options with a potential contract value of approximately $265 million if all options are exercised. The basic period of performance is from Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, to July 21, 2025. The five option periods, if exercised, would extend the contract through Jan. 31, 2030.
Under this contract, TRAX will provide disposal operations, export control, equipment management, mail, supply, materials, and transportation for NASA. The work will be performed at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and NASA Headquarters in Washington.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
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Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
Abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov
NASA Selects Lockheed Martin to Build Next-Gen Spacecraft for NOAA
NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has selected Lockheed Martin Corp. of Littleton, Colorado, to build the spacecraft for NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite program.
This cost-plus-award-fee contract is valued at approximately $2.27 billion. It includes the development of three spacecraft as well as four options for additional spacecraft. The anticipated period of performance for this contract includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and five years of on-orbit storage, for a total of 15 years for each spacecraft. The work will take place at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Littleton and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The GeoXO constellation will include three operational satellites — east, west and central. Each geostationary, three-axis stabilized spacecraft is designed to host three instruments. The centrally-located spacecraft will carry an infrared sounder and atmospheric composition instrument and can also accommodate a partner payload. Spacecraft in the east and west positions will carry an imager, lightning mapper, and ocean color instrument. They will also support an auxiliary communication payload for the NOAA Data Collection System relay, dissemination, and commanding.
The contract scope includes the tasks necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, evaluate, and support launch of the GeoXO satellites; provide engineering development units; supply and maintain the ground support equipment and simulators; and support mission operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
NASA and NOAA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the GeoXO program. NOAA funds and manages the program, operations, and data products. On behalf of NOAA, NASA and commercial partners develop and build the instruments and spacecraft and launch the satellites.
As part of NOAA’s constellation of geostationary environmental satellites to protect life and property across the Western Hemisphere, the GeoXO program is the follow-on to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites – R (GOES-R) Series Program.
The GeoXO satellite system will advance Earth observations from geostationary orbit. The mission will supply vital information to address major environmental challenges of the future in support of weather, ocean, and climate operations in the United States. The advanced capabilities from GeoXO will help assess our changing planet and the evolving needs of the nation’s data users. Together, NASA and NOAA are working to ensure GeoXO’s critical observations are in place by the early 2030s when the GOES-R Series nears the end of its operational lifetime.
For more information on the GeoXO program, visit:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/geoxo
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Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Jeremy Eggers
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
757-824-2958
jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov
John Leslie
NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
202-527-3504
nesdis.pa@noaa.gov
NASA Sets Launch Coverage for NOAA Weather Satellite
NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the satellite’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The GOES-U satellite, the final addition to GOES-R series, will help to prepare for two kinds of weather — Earth and space weather. The GOES satellites serve a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This continuous monitoring aids scientists and forecasters in issuing timely warnings and forecasts to help protect the one billion people who live and work in the Americas. Additionally, GOES-U carries a new compact coronagraph that will image the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere to detect and characterize coronal mass ejections.
The deadline for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch has passed. NASA’s media credentialing policy is available online. For questions about media accreditation, please email: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.
NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Monday, June 24
9:30 a.m. – NASA EDGE GOES-U prelaunch show on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
11 a.m. – GOES-U science briefing with the following participants:
- Charles Webb, deputy director, Joint Agency Satellite Division, NASA
- Ken Graham, director, NOAA’s National Weather Service
- Dan Lindsey, chief scientist, GOES-R Program, NOAA
- Elsayed Talaat, director, NOAA’s Office of Space Weather Observations
- Chris Wood, NOAA Hurricane Hunter pilot
Coverage of the science news conference will stream live on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
3:15 p.m. – NASA Social panel at Kennedy with the following participants:
- Jade Zsiros, telemetry engineer, NASA’s Launch Services Program
- Ellen Ramirez, deputy division chief, Mission Operations Division, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Office of Satellite and Product Operations, NOAA
- Dakota Smith, satellite analyst and communicator, NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere
- Allana Nepomuceno, senior manager, GOES-U Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations, Lockheed Martin
- Chris Reith, program manager, Advanced Baseline Imager, L3Harris Technologies
The panel will stream live on NASA Kennedy’s YouTube, X and Facebook accounts. Members of the public may ask questions online by posting to the YouTube, X, and Facebook live streams or using #AskNASA.
5 p.m. – Prelaunch news conference at Kennedy (following completion of the Launch Readiness Review), with the following participants:
- Denton Gibson, launch director, Launch Services Program, NASA
- Steve Volz, assistant administrator, NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service
- Pam Sullivan, director, GOES-R Program, NOAA
- John Gagosian, director, Joint Agency Satellite Division
- Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX
- Brian Cizek, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force
Coverage of the prelaunch news conference will stream live on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.
Tuesday, June 25
1 p.m. – Media one-on-one interviews with the following:
- Michael Morgan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, NOAA
- Michael Brennan, director, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center
- James Spann, senior scientist, Office of Space Weather Observations, NOAA
- John Gagosian, director, Joint Agency Satellite Division
- Krizia Negron, language program lead, National Weather Service Office of Science and Technology Integration, NOAA (bilingual, available for Spanish interviews)
- Dan Lindsey, chief scientist, GOES-R Program, NOAA
- Jagdeep Shergill, program director, GEO Weather, Lockheed Martin
- Chris Reith, program manager, Advanced Baseline Imager, L3Harris Technologies
4:15 p.m. – NASA launch coverage begins on NASA+, the agency’s website, and other digital channels.
5:16 p.m. – Two-hour launch window opens
Audio Only Coverage
Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240 or -7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA Television media launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.
Live Video Coverage Prior to Launch
NASA will provide a live video feed of Launch Complex 39A approximately 24 hours prior to the planned liftoff of the mission on NASA Kennedy’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/kscnewsroom. The feed will be uninterrupted until the prelaunch broadcast begins on NASA Television media channel.
NASA Website Launch Coverage
Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 3 p.m., June 25, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff.
For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on the GOES blog.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o Messod Bendayan: messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov
Attend the Launch Virtually
Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch.
Watch, Engage on Social Media
Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtags #ReadyToGOES and #NASASocial. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:
X: @NASA, @NASA_LSP, @NASAKennedy, @NOAASatellites, @NASAGoddard
Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, NASA Kennedy, NOAA Satellites, NASA Goddard
Instagram: NASA, NASA Kennedy, NOAA Satellites
For more information about the mission, visit:
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Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Peter Jacobs
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
301-286-0535
peter.jacobs@nasa.gov
Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-747-8310
leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Etched into Collier Trophy, Aerospace History
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has been immortalized at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington as the latest awardee of the Robert J. Collier Trophy. Bestowed annually by the National Aeronautic Association, the trophy recognizes groundbreaking aerospace achievements.
Members of the OSIRIS-REx team at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., with the Collier trophy on June 13, 2024. From left to right: Nayi Castro, mission operations manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; Nicole Lunning, curator, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston; Anjani Polit, mission implementation systems engineer, University of Arizona, Tucson; Coralie Adam, OSIRIS-REx optical navigation lead, KinetX Inc.; Michael Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager, NASA Goddard; Dennis Reuter, OVIRS instrument scientist, NASA Goddard; Ronald Mink, OSIRIS-REx missions systems engineer, NASA Goddard; Joshua Wood, system design lead, Lockheed Martin Space; Peter Antreasian, OSIRIS-REx navigation team chief, KinetX Inc.; Sandy Freund, program manager, Lockheed Martin Space; Eric Sahr, optical navigation engineer, KinetX Inc.NASA/Rani GranOSIRIS-REx, formally the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer, was honored “for successfully executing the first American retrieval of an asteroid sample and its return to Earth,” according to the award citation. The award was announced in March, and the OSIRIS-REx team visited the museum on June 13, 2024, to see the mission’s name engraved in brass at the base of the statue.
“It just blows me away to see the OSIRIS-REx team engraved on the Collier trophy, next to names like Orville Wright, the Apollo 8 crew, and the Voyager Mission Team,” said Michael Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “I’m so proud of our amazing team that their excellence and sacrifice to make the OSIRIS-REx mission so successful have been recognized with this prestigious award.”
While NASA’s accomplishments have been honored with the Collier award many times, this is one of just a handful of instances that NASA Goddard has been a major partner on a winning team. NASA Goddard most recently claimed a share of the award in 2022 for the James Webb Space Telescope. Previous wins also include 1993 honors for the Hubble Space Telescope and the 1974 prize for a NASA–U.S. Geological Survey satellite that began the long-running Landsat program that studies and monitors changes to Earth’s land masses.
The OSIRIS-REx team includes NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado; the University of Arizona, Tucson; and KinetX in Tempe, Arizona. NASA’s Johnson Space Center is responsible for the curation of the Bennu sample material that OSIRIS-REx returned to Earth in September 2023.
The Collier Trophy resides in a glass case in the “America by Air” section on the museum’s first floor. The century-old trophy stands at over 7 feet tall and weighs 525 pounds. The bronze sculpture depicts a globe, with three figures emerging from it. The sculpture rests on two walnut bases, each adorned with an engrave brass plaque bearing the names of the recipients.
Baltimore sculptor Ernest Wise Keyser designed the Trophy in 1910 for Robert J. Collier, the publisher of Collier’s Weekly magazine and president of the Aero Club of America.
By Rani Gran
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
