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NSTGRO 2024
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)Claire Lessler
University of Chicago
Precision Spectroscopic Calibration and Next-Generation Millimeter-Wave Spectrometers
Miron Liu
University of Michigan
Development of a Magnetically Shielded Hall Thruster without Pole Erosion
Ashley Maldonado
Otero University of Southern California
Optimizing heterogeneous nanostructured materials for space applications
Camille McDonnell
University of Maryland, College Park
Low-SWaP Nanophotonic Quantum Enhanced Sensors with Highly Squeezed Light
Daniel Miliate
University of California, Merced
Dry Film Lubricants for Heaterless Actuators
Andrew Morell
University of Colorado, Boulder
Rapid Modular Simulation Methods for Capture and Post-Capture Spacecraft Dynamics
Daniel Morton
Stanford University
Combining Optimal and Learning-Based Control Methods for the Manipulation of Spaceborne Objects
Abhay Negi
University of Southern California
Autonomous Fault Detection, Recovery, and Avoidance during Robotic In-Space Assembly
Devin Nielsen
Utah State University
Multi-scale Analysis of Pyrolytic Graphite Sheet Laminates for Space Radiator Applications Using NASMAT
Jennifer Nolan
Georgia Institute of Technology
Application of Neural Radiance Fields for Autonomous Spacecraft Navigation and Planetary Characterization
Henry Noyes
Northeastern University
Autonomous Navigation and Multi-Modal Path Planning in Lunar Craters Using a Modular Snake-like Robot
Lorin Nugent
Purdue University
Spacecraft Rendezvous Techniques for Multi-Body Gravitational Environments
Jake Olkin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Long-Duration, Risk-Aware, Goal-Directed Adaptive Sampling for Autonomous Vehicle Exploration
Nathaniel Osikowicz
Penn State University
Tendon-actuated Structural Modules for Enhanced Segmented Aperture Reflectors
Rebecca Palmer
Georgia Institute of Technology
Debris to Infrastructure: Salvage Characterization and Recovered Metals Processing in Lunar Gravity
Austin Patridge
University of Texas at San Antonio
Apollo Regolith Thermally Constrained Landing Pad Bricks (ARTC Bricks)
Cutler Phillippe
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Imaging and Analysis Framework for Parachute Micro-structural Basis
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Robust Optimal Control of Spacecraft Translational-Rotational Coupled Motion under Uncertainty
Clayton Ramsey
William Marsh Rice University
Low-Power Real-Time Planning for Robots in Uncertain Environments
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University of Colorado, Boulder
Experimental Characterization of Magnetohydrodynamic Effects in Planetary Entry Plasmas
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University of Kentucky
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University of Arizona
Multifunctional Nanofiber Reinforcement of Perovskite Solar Cells for Resilience in Space
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Margaret Wang
Stanford University
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Share Details Last Updated Jun 13, 2024 EditorLoura Hall Related TermsNASA’s Webb Reveals Long-Studied Star Is Actually Twins
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory through launch, Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument also revealed jets of gas flowing into space from the twin stars.
Scientists recently got a big surprise from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope when they turned the observatory toward a group of young stars called WL 20. The region has been studied since the 1970s with at least five telescopes, but it took Webb’s unprecedented resolution and specialized instruments to reveal that what researchers long thought was one of the stars, WL 20S, is actually a pair that formed about 2 million to 4 million years ago.
The discovery was made using Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and was presented at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society on June 12. MIRI also found that the twins have matching jets of gas streaming into space from their north and south poles.
“Our jaws dropped,” said astronomer Mary Barsony, lead author of a new paper describing the results. “After studying this source for decades, we thought we knew it pretty well. But without MIRI we would not have known this was two stars or that these jets existed. That’s really astonishing. It’s like having brand new eyes.”
This artist’s concept shows two young stars nearing the end of their formation. Encircling the stars are disks of leftover gas and dust from which planets may form. Jets of gas shoot away from the stars’ north and south poles.The team got another surprise when additional observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a group of more than 60 radio antennas in Chile, revealed that disks of dust and gas encircle both stars. Based on the stars’ age, it’s possible that planets are forming in those disks.
The combined results indicate that the twin stars are nearing the end of this early period of their lives, which means scientists will have the opportunity to learn more about how the stars transition from youth into adulthood.
“The power of these two telescopes together is really incredible,” said Mike Ressler, project scientist for MIRI at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co-author of the new study. “If we hadn’t seen that these were two stars, the ALMA results might have just looked like a single disk with a gap in the middle. Instead, we have new data about two stars that are clearly at a critical point in their lives, when the processes that formed them are petering out.”
This image of the WL 20 star group combines data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the Mid-Infrared Instrument on NASA’s Webb telescope. Gas jets emanating from the poles of twin stars appear blue and green; disks of dust and gas surrounding the stars are pink.U.S. NSF; NSF NRAO; ALMA; NASA/JPL-Caltech; B. Saxton Stellar JetsWL 20 resides in a much larger, well-studied star-forming region of the Milky Way galaxy called Rho Ophiuchi, a massive cloud of gas and dust about 400 light-years from Earth. In fact, WL 20 is hidden behind thick clouds of gas and dust that block most of the visible light (wavelengths that the human eye can detect) from the stars there. Webb detects slightly longer wavelengths, called infrared, that can pass through those layers. MIRI detects the longest infrared wavelengths of any instrument on Webb and is thus well equipped for peering into obscured star-forming regions like WL 20.
Radio waves can often penetrate dust as well, though they may not reveal the same features as infrared light. The disks of gas and dust surrounding the two stars in WL 20S emit light in a range that astronomers call submillimeter; these, too, penetrate the surrounding gas clouds and were observed by ALMA.
These four images show the WL 20 star system as seen by (from left) NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the Mauna Kea Observatory, the Hale 5.0-meter telescope the Palomar Observatory, the Keck II telescope, and the NASA’s Webb telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.But scientists could easily have interpreted those observations as evidence of a single disk with a gap in it had MIRI not also observed the two stellar jets. The jets of gas are composed of ions, or individual atoms with some electrons stripped away that radiate in mid-infrared wavelengths but not at submillimeter wavelengths. Only an infrared instrument with spatial and spectral resolution like MIRI’s could see them.
ALMA can also observe clouds of leftover formation material around young stars. Composed of whole molecules, like carbon monoxide, these clouds of gas and dust radiate light at these longer wavelengths. The absence of those clouds in the ALMA observations shows that the stars are beyond their initial formation phase.
“It’s amazing that this region still has so much to teach us about the life cycle of stars,” said Ressler. “I’m thrilled to see what else Webb will reveal.”
More About the MissionThe 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).
MIRI was developed through a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ESA. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL led the U.S. efforts for MIRI, and a multinational consortium of European astronomical institutes contributes for ESA. George Rieke with the University of Arizona is the MIRI science team lead. Gillian Wright is the MIRI European principal investigator.
The MIRI cryocooler development was led and managed by JPL, in collaboration with Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
News Media ContactCalla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
2024-085
Share Details Last Updated Jun 13, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 4 min read NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster ResponseIn early May, widespread flooding and landslides occurred in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande…
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NASA’s RASC-AL Competition Selects 2024 Winners
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Virginia Tech team, winners of first place overall in the RASC-AL 2024 competition.NASAOut of 14 finalist teams that encompassed collegiate and university representation from across the globe, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University team with their concept, “Project Draupnir,” in the AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probe theme, took home top prize in NASA’s Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.
The University of Maryland took second place overall for their concept, “SITIS: Subsurface Ice and Terrain In-situ Surveyor,” while South Dakota State University took third place overall with “POSEID-N: Prospecting Observation System for Exploration, Investigation, Discovery, and Navigation,” both in the Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector theme.
The first and second place overall winning teams will receive a travel stipend to present their work at the 2024 AIAA Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery (ASCEND) Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in July.
The University of Maryland team, winners of second place overall in the RASC-AL 2024 competition.NASAIn its 23rd year, RASC-AL is one of NASA’s longest running higher education competitions.
“It’s an engaging engineering design challenge that fosters collaboration, innovation, and hard work. Finalist teams also enjoy the comradery and networking opportunities at our annual forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida,” said Pat Troutman, program assistant, technical for NASA’s Strategy and Architecture Office. “Each year, the competition grows as more and more students want to contribute to NASA’s mission of improving humanity’s ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond.”
The forum is attended by NASA and industry subject matter experts who judge the presentations and offer valuable feedback. New this year, RASC-AL teams based in the United States were encouraged to work with universities from countries that have signed The Artemis Accords – a set of principles designed to guide civil space exploration and use in the 21st century.
Finalist teams responded to one of four themes, ranging from developing large-scale lunar surface architectures enabling long-term off-world habitation, to designing new systems that leverage in-situ resources for in-space travel and exploration.
The South Dakota State team, winners of third place overall in the RASC-AL 2024 competition.NASAAdditional 2024 Forum awards include:
Best in Theme:
- AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probes – an Evolutionary Approach: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, “Project Draupnir”
- Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector: University of Maryland, “SITIS: Subsurface Ice and Terrain In-situ Surveyor”
- Sustained Lunar Evolution: University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, “Permanent Outpost Lunar Architecture for Research and Innovative Services (POLARIS)”
- Long Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space (ISAE-SUPAERO), “MARTEMIS: Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon with International Solidarity”
Other Awards:
- Best Prototype: South Dakota State University, “POSEID-N: Prospecting Observation System for Exploration, Investigation, Discovery, and Navigation”
RASC-AL is open to undergraduate and graduate students studying disciplines related to human exploration, including aerospace, bio-medical, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and life, physical, and computer sciences. RASC-AL projects allow students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. Students have the opportunity to interact with NASA officials and industry experts and develop relationships that could lead to participation in other NASA student research programs.
RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at NASA Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.
For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit: http://rascal.nianet.org.
Facebook logo @NASA@nasalarc @NASA@NASA_Langley Instagram logo @NASA@NASA_Langley Linkedin logo @NASA@company/nasa-langley-research-center Share Details Last Updated Jun 13, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 4 min read NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster ResponseIn early May, widespread flooding and landslides occurred in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande…
Article 4 hours ago 3 min read NSTGRO 2024 Article 4 hours ago 4 min read California Teams Win $1.5 Million in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge Article 8 hours ago‘NASA in the Park’ Returns to Rocket City June 22
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Credits: Downtown Huntsville Inc.NASA in the Park is coming back to Big Spring Park East in Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday, 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.”
To learn more about Marshall, visit:
Download NASA in the Park PosterJun 13, 2024
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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…
Article 4 hours ago 4 min read California Teams Win $1.5 Million in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge Article 8 hours ago 25 min read The Marshall Star for June 12, 2024 Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover Related TopicsMissions
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Sea Ice Swirls
NASA’s Terra satellite captured floating fragments of sea ice as ocean currents carried them south along Greenland’s east coast on June 4, 2024.
This ice traveled from the Fram Strait, a 450-kilometer (280-mile)-wide passage between Greenland and Svalbard, to the Arctic Ocean. Along the journey, it breaks into smaller pieces and starts to melt in warmer ocean waters, creating the wispy patterns seen here.
Learn more about Arctic sea ice.
Image Credit: NASA/Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview
Flag Day 2024 – One Small Flag’s Incredible Journey
This article tells the story of one small American flag fortunate enough to be singled out from a group of one thousand flags just like it and embark on an incredible journey. The other 999 flags likely ended up as gifts, but this one flag had a loftier fate. It wasn’t the first American flag to ride on a crewed spacecraft into space, that one flew aboard Freedom 7 with Alan B. Shepard on May 5, 1961. Or the most famous flag that went into space, the Stars and Stripes planted on the Moon by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin on July 20, 1969, holds that honor. Other American flags have even flown on spacecraft not just to other planets but out of the solar system entirely. And tens of thousands of other small flags have thundered into space aboard space shuttles and returned to Earth for distribution around the world. So what makes this one small flag, known as the Legacy Flag, so special?
Left: Launch of space shuttle Columbia on the STS-1 mission, April 12, 1981. Right: Landing of Columbia, April 14, 1981.
Space shuttle Columbia first lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on April 12, 1981, to usher in a new era of reusable crewed space transportation. It carried not only its two pilots, John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen, but also the Official Flight Kit (OFK), stowed away in the lockers in the shuttle’s middeck, along with food, clothing and other supplies. Many of the OFK items, including 1,000 8-by-12-inch American flags, were destined for distribution after the mission to commemorate its historic significance. Once they returned to Earth and workers removed them from the shuttle’s middeck, NASA distributed many of the flags to various people and organizations. But some remained and ended up in storage at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. As the shuttle program progressed over the next 30 years, the number of flags in storage dwindled as additional recipients were identified. Finally, in 2011 it was time for the last shuttle mission, STS-135, and NASA felt it a fitting tribute to refly one of the flags from STS-1 on the final flight. Since STS-135 delivered supplies to the International Space Station, the flag would remain on board until the next time an American spacecraft carrying American astronauts launched from American soil arrived at the station. At the time, no one knew exactly how long that would take.
Left: Launch of STS-135, July 8, 2011. Right: The crew of STS-135 pose with the Legacy Flag on the flight deck of Atlantis.
On July 8, 2011, space shuttle Atlantis lifted off to begin STS-135, the final mission of the program with Christopher J. Ferguson, Douglas G. Hurley, Sandra H. Magnus, and Rex J. Walheim aboard, and two days later they docked with the station. The six international crewmembers of Expedition 28 welcomed them aboard. The long-term plan for the little flag was publicly revealed during a live TV session between the crew and President Barack H. Obama. “I also understand that Atlantis brought a unique American flag up to the station,” said President Obama. Shuttle Commander Ferguson explained that before their departure they would present the flag to the crew aboard the station, where “it will hopefully maintain a position of honor until the next vehicle launched from U.S. soil brings U.S. astronauts up to dock with the space station.”
Left: The crews of STS-135 and Expedition 28 pose with the Legacy Flag. Right: The crews of STS-135 and Expedition 28 place the Legacy Flag on the hatch of the Harmony module.
On July 18, near the end of the docked phase of STS-135, during a televised ceremony the crews placed the flag, flanked by the patches of the first and last space shuttle missions, on the forward hatch of the Harmony module, from where Atlantis would soon depart and where the next American crewed spacecraft would dock. After the shuttle and its crew left, the flag remained on the hatch for a while, but as time passed, onboard crews needed to use that area for stowage and so they moved it to a nearby wall for safekeeping. In 2015, to further safeguard the flag against damage or loss, Mission Control asked the onboard crew to place it in a stowage bag. As sometimes happens with stowage bags, this one moved around and ended up in a different module of the station. Three years later, during a general inventory of stowage bags, the crew found the flag and placed in a Ziploc bag with the words “Flown on STS-1 & STS-135. Only to be removed by crew launching from KSC” attached.
Left: The Legacy Flag, placed between the STS-1 and STS-135 patches on the Harmony module’s forward hatch as Atlantis prepared to depart. Middle: In May 2014, during Expedition 40, astronauts mounted the flag on a wall near the Harmony module’s hatch to allow that area to be used for stowage. Right: The Legacy Flag in July 2018 during Expedition 56, placed in a Ziploc bag for safety.
On May 30, 2020, a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39A, the same pad used for STS-1 and STS-135, carrying SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on its Demo 2 mission. Aboard were Doug Hurley, who flew aboard the last shuttle mission, and Robert L. Behnken, the first American astronauts launched aboard an American spacecraft from American soil since STS-135. Once in orbit, Hurley and Behnken announced that they had christened their spacecraft Endeavour. The next day, Endeavour docked with the station, and Hurley and Behnken came aboard, welcomed by Expedition 63 Commander NASA astronaut Christopher J. Cassidy and Flight Engineers Anatoli A. Ivanishin and Ivan V. Vagner representing Roscosmos. Mounted on the open hatch as they floated aboard the station was our intrepid little flag, in space for nine years, and 39 years after making its first trip into space. After their arrival, Cassidy, Hurley and Behnken held a press conference and proudly displayed the flag and how it stood as a symbol of the return of American launch capability. The flag’s nine-year journey came to end when Hurley and Behnken brought it back to Earth on Aug. 2, 2020. The flag first went on display at SpaceX’s facility in Hawthorne, California, then toured the country for a few months, making its final public appearance at the World Petroleum Congress in Houston in December 2021. Currently in storage at JSC, the Legacy Flag will fly again, possibly on even more distant journeys.
Left: The Harmony module’s forward hatch bearing the Legacy Flag, opened to welcome the SpaceX Demo 2 crew. Middle: NASA astronauts Robert L. Behnken, left, Douglas G. Hurley (holding the Legacy Flag), and Christopher J. Cassidy during a press conference. Right: The Legacy Flag in its display case after its return to Earth.
During its time on the space station, the Legacy Flag saw 100 visitors from many nationalities come and go, some of them more than once. Most stayed six months, some stayed longer, up to almost one year. A few made short visits of about a week. During all that time, the space station remained a busy beehive of activity, with hundreds of experiments conducted by the international crews. Many astronauts ventured outside, to repair equipment, place new experiments out, or bring older ones back inside. And in that time, the flag traveled more than 1.3 billion miles.
Explore More 10 min read 55 Years Ago: Manned Orbiting Laboratory Cancellation Article 2 days ago 15 min read 55 Years Ago: Star Trek Final Episode Airs, Relationship with NASA Endures Article 1 week ago 6 min read 25 Years Ago: STS-96 Resupplies the Space Station Article 2 weeks agoFlag Day – One Small Flag’s Incredible Journey
This article is for students grades 5-8.
This story tells the tale of one small American flag fortunate enough to embark on an incredible journey. It wasn’t the first flag to ride into space, or the most famous flag that went into space — that honor probably goes to the Stars and Stripes planted on the Moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. So what makes this one little flag so special? Let’s let the flag tell its own story.
Here I am launching into space aboard the space shuttle Columbia for the first time in 1981.Credits: NASAWorkers packed me away with many other small flags like me – there must have been a thousand of us – just 8-by-12-inch Stars and Stripes, in a locker aboard space shuttle Columbia. We took off on STS-1, the shuttle’s very first mission in 1981, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Although we couldn’t see anything, we could feel the vibrations and noises of the liftoff, the ride a bit rough for the first two minutes, then much smoother until we reached space. Once in orbit, we could hear the two astronauts working as they tested the new spaceship.
And two days later, I’m back on Earth!Credits: NASAThen after just two days, we came home, making a smooth landing in California. Thirty years later, someone had the idea to send me into space again, this time on the very last space shuttle mission, STS-135. And this time I would be making a much longer trip, since I would be left aboard the International Space Station.
Here I am starting my second trip into space in 2011, this time aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.Credits: NASASo I roared off into space again in 2011, this time aboard space shuttle Atlantis. I had four friends to keep me company, Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus, and Rex Walheim. They actually took me out of my locker, and we all took pictures together. That made me feel really special.
Here I am posing with my friends Doug, Chris, Sandy, and Rex aboard Atlantis.Credits: NASABut there was more in store for me: Two days after our launch we arrived at the space station; wow, what a huge place this was! I met even more astronauts here, from America, Russia, and Japan! President Barack Obama called to congratulate the crews, and I heard him talking about me and what a unique American flag I was. I would have a position of honor aboard the station until the next team of Americans arrived aboard an American spacecraft launched from American soil. I couldn’t have been more proud!
Here I am with all 10 crewmembers aboard the station, from America, Russia, and Japan.Credits: NASA And here I am, taking my position of honor on the space station’s hatch.Credits :NASAThe astronauts made a TV show and I was the star. They placed me in my position of honor on the forward hatch of the space station, between the patches of the first and last space shuttle missions. I stayed on the hatch for a while, but as no spacecraft arrived through that portal for a few years, the crews needed the space to store their stuff.
Here I am between the STS-1 and STS-135 patches on the station’s forward hatch.Credits: NASAWorried I might be injured, they slipped me into a plastic cover and placed me on a wall near the hatch. People grew concerned about me and thought it would be good to put me away in storage for safekeeping, at least temporarily, so that’s what happened. And while I waited, the bag I was in got moved around, and after a few years, people weren’t really sure where I was. But luckily, they found me and placed me in a safer bag and wrote these words, “Flown on STS-1 & STS-135. Only to be removed by crew launching from KSC,” to let everyone know I was that special flag.
Later I was moved to a nearby wall.Credits: NASA Later still, placed in a Ziploc bag for safety, with the words to let everyone know I was that special flag.Credits: NASATwo more years went by, and I began to hear rumblings that I might be needed again. My newest friend on the space station, Chris Cassidy, cleared out the area around the hatch. Was I about to resume my position of honor? Excitement was building, and Chris and his two crewmates, Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner prepared the station for its newest arrivals. Apparently two Americans had launched aboard an American spacecraft from American soil, the first time in nine years.
Here I am welcoming the SpaceX Demo 2 crew.Credits: NASA Doug is holding me up to the camera during a press conference.Credits: NASAMy long wait was over! Chris placed me on the now-open hatch, and first Bob Behnken and then Doug Hurley, my old friend from Atlantis, floated inside the station! I was there to welcome them aboard! Once again, I starred in another TV show. After returning to Earth with Doug and Bob – I’m told I had traveled 1.3 billion miles – I went on display in several places. And now I hear rumblings of another possibly more distant journey awaiting me. We’ll just have to see.
Here I am all dressed up for public display after my return to Earth.Credits: NASA Share Details Last Updated Jun 13, 2024 Related Terms Keep Exploring Discover More STEM Topics From NASAFor Students Grades 5-8
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California Teams Win $1.5 Million in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge
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.
The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering, Valerie and Todd Mendenhall, receive the $1 million prize Wednesday, June 12, for winning the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 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 DealSince 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.
On 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, Alabama, 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 “Irresistible Object” 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.
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 at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama. From left are Matt Kruszynski, Saurav Shroff, Matt Khudari, Alan Hsu, David Aden, Mihir Gondhalekarl, Joshua Huang and Aakash Ramachandran.NASA/Jonathan DealA 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.”
Beyond 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 in Florida. 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.
For more information on Break the Ice, visit:
Jonathan Deal
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
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Sols 4212-4214: Gearing up to Drill!
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Sols 4212-4214: Gearing up to Drill! This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4210 and captures the block which hosts our potential drill target, “Mammoth Lakes.” NASA/JPL-CaltechEarth planning date: Monday, June 11, 2024
Curiosity is gearing up to drill! Last week, it encountered a rock with unusual coloration and texture that was just out of reach (you can read about it and see pictures here and here). So that Curiosity could learn more about the geology around these rocks, it “bumped” – completing a 0.7-meter drive (2.3 feet) – to reach a nearby rock that’s big enough to drill! After many discussions over the past week with engineers, geologists, chemists, and more, the team has confirmed this target will be our next potential drill target (pictured). We’ve chosen the target name “Mammoth Lakes,” named for a town in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains with basalt columns, hot springs, and waterfalls.
Today, as the Keeper of the Plan for the Geology and Mineralogy theme group, I was busy recording all the necessary observations into the plan as we prepare to drill. In the first sol, we’ll start with some essential preparatory activities. We’ll use our Dust Removal Tool (DRT) to clean the surface, take detailed images with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture the sedimentary textures, and analyze the composition with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). These steps are crucial to understand the site’s potential before we commit to drilling.
The second sol is where things heat up. ChemCam will fire up its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to zap the rock and analyze its makeup. We then follow up this activity with imaging the surrounding area to help us understand the context of “Mammoth Lakes.” Mastcam will devote half an hour to capture a mammoth mosaic of the area, showing a potential contact in Gediz Vallis ridge which is marked by a transition from white stones into a coarser material. To top it off, we’ll use the ChemCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) to get some high-res shots of the sedimentary textures and structures within the surrounding rocks to help us understand the depositional environment when they formed.
Even with all these activities, the environmental science theme group managed to fit in some dust monitoring. Here’s hoping all goes well, and we can make “Mammoth Lakes” our 41st drill hole!
Written by Amelie Roberts, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London
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Ames Research Center Democratizes Space Biosciences Research with First Commercial Astronaut Data
Background: To protect astronauts from spaceflight health risks like solar radiation and microgravity, scientists develop countermeasures by studying model organisms exposed to the space environment. For the first time, commercial astronaut data from the Inspiration4 (I4) mission has been collected for open-access research in an effort led by Weill Cornell Medicine. ARC’s Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) hosts this data for public use. Facilitated by the OSDR, data from the all-civilian crew enables researchers to validate decades of model organism research and make vital discoveries from biospecimens of humans. The OSDR’s Analysis Working Groups (AWGs), comprised of researchers from around the globe, collaborate to maximize the scientific value of space omics data.
Main Findings: On June 11, 44 scientific publications, including 32 authored by members of the AWG community and the OSDR team, were prominently featured in the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) package of publications in Nature Press. The collection of articles greatly expands our knowledge of how space travel affects humans by addressing questions about the transcriptomic, epigenomic, cellular, microbiome, and mitochondrial alterations observed during spaceflight. Results and best practices from these articles collectively inform SOMA, which provides a standardized approach to spaceflight related research (Figure).
Impact: The AWG studies featured in these publications leverage the I4 data alongside other OSDR data to pioneer novel discoveries and formulate new hypotheses aimed at uncovering systemic biological responses during spaceflight. Historically, AWG collaborations have led to numerous scientific presentations at conferences, publications in high-impact journals, and the introduction of many new and more diverse researchers into the field.
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Kennedy Space Center Recipient of Presidential Federal Sustainability Award
KSC is the first NASA Center to offer workplace EV charging, setting the foundation for other NASA Centers. EV chargers are one way the KSC team is embracing the Executive Order goal for Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035.
These charging stations greatly benefit KSC sustainability efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within the first ten months of operation, the charging stations reduced emissions by 40,000 kg (actuals from ChargePoint’s analytics page) with over 3,000 individual charging sessions.
The project also reduces cost by leveraging a Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act agreement with Florida Power and Light (FP&L). The White House selected this project as a worthy recipient in the “Electrifying the Federal Fleet” category. Congratulations, KSC!
NASA Welcomes Armenia as 43rd Artemis Accords Signatory
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson welcomed Armenia as the newest nation to sign the Artemis Accords Wednesday during a ceremony with the U.S. State Department at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Armenia joins 42 other countries in a commitment to advancing principles for the safe, transparent, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond.
“NASA is proud to welcome Armenia to the Artemis Accords as we expand the peaceful exploration of space,” said Nelson. “Today’s signing builds on an important foundation. Armenia long has looked to the heavens and helped humanity understand them. As the 10th nation this year to sign the Artemis Accords, we are proving that exploration unites nations like few other things can. We will continue to expand humanity’s reach in the cosmos – together.”
Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Minister of High-Tech Industry, signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Armenia. Lilit Makunts, ambassador of Armenia to the U.S. and Jennifer R. Littlejohn, acting assistant secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State, also participated in the event.
“By signing these accords, Armenia joins a community of nations dedicated to advancing the frontiers of human knowledge and capability in space,” said Hayrapetyan. “Our involvement will not only enhance our technological capabilities, but also inspire a new generation of Armenians to dream big, to innovate and to explore the world and universe.”
The United States and seven other nations were the first to sign the Artemis Accords in 2020, which identified an early set of principles promoting the beneficial use of space for humanity. The accords are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements including the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data. More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years to come.
The commitments of the Artemis Accords, and efforts by the signatories to advance implementation of these principles, support NASA’s Artemis campaign with its partners, as well as for the success of the safe and sustainable exploration activities of the other accords signatories.
For more information about the Artemis Accords, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/
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Faith McKie / Jennifer Dooren
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faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov
Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) Package
June 11, 2024 – The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) package, the largest-ever collection of data for aerospace medicine and space biology, was publicly released on Tuesday! This monumental achievement was made possible through the collaborative efforts of over 100 institutions from more than 25 countries.
Of the total 44 publications in the SOMA package, 32 of them feature at least one member of our Ames Space Biosciences Division team. This is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to the dedication and expertise of our Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) team and other Space Biosciences researchers.
Congratulations to our OSDR Team members, Analysis Working Group (AWG) members, and Ames scientists for their historic scientific endeavor and invaluable contribution. Their hard work has brought the Ames Space Biosciences Division to the forefront of aerospace and space biology research.
Their efforts have made an indelible mark on the field, and we are incredibly proud of their work.
Thank you all for your continued dedication and excellence!
Read more about this record-breaking release of open science data.
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The Marshall Star for June 12, 2024
By Wayne Smith
From preparing for flight readiness, to providing day-of-launch support, to delivering a critical piece of replacement hardware, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center played an integral role in the agency’s crew flight test to the International Space Station.
The Starliner spacecraft – NASA’s Boeing crew flight test (CFT) powered by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket – successfully launched June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The flight test carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station to test the spacecraft and its subsystems before NASA certifies the transportation system for rotational missions to the orbiting laboratory for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.
Marshall’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) support team successfully completed the crew flight test (CFT) pre-flight test readiness review April 12. Supporting personnel, from left, are Deborah Crane, CCP launch vehicle (LV) chief engineer; Notlim Burgos, CCP LV Boeing lead engineer; Christopher Wakefield, POD Boeing CFT flight lead; Maggie Freeman, CCP LV program analyst; David Gwaltney, CCP interim launch vehicle deputy manager; Joseph Pelfrey, Marshall center director; Paul Crawford, safety and mission assurance; Jennifer Van Den Driessche, CCP LV Boeing certification manager; Kelli Maloney, CCP LV Boeing deputy lead engineer; Larry Leopard, Marshall associate director, technical; Megan Hines, safety and mission assurance; and Chris Chiesa, CCP spacecraft propulsion. NASA/Jason WaggonerThe Boeing Starliner spacecraft successfully docked to the space station June 6. NASA and Boeing teams set a return date of no earlier than June 18 for the crew flight test. The additional time in orbit will allow the space station crews to perform a spacewalk June 13, while engineers complete Starliner systems checkouts. Coverage of the spacewalk begins at 5:30 a.m. on NASA TV.
“It was incredible to witness yet another historic moment in this new era of space exploration,” said Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey. “I am immensely proud of our Marshall team for providing the critical support needed to ensure this test flight is as safe as possible. This is just one example of how Marshall is utilizing our capabilities through strategic partnerships to expand space exploration for all humankind.”
Launch Support
Marshall’s role within the Commercial Crew Program, or CCP, is to support certification that the spacecraft and launch vehicle are ready for launch. The support team performs engineering expertise, particularly for propulsion, as well as program management, safety and mission assurance, and spacecraft support. These efforts ultimately lead up to day-of launch support from the Marshall’s Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC).
Eighteen Marshall team members supported the launch from inside the HOSC. The team’s primary focus was ensuring the cryo-tanking of the liquid propellants and pressurants on the Centaur and the Atlas V booster went as planned. That included monitoring the replacement self-regulating vent valve (SRV), since the valve it replaced caused the launch scrub on the first attempt.
Marshall’s CCP team members support the CFT launch from inside the Huntsville Operations Support Center on June 5. NASA/Nathaniel Stepp“The replacement SRV performed perfectly after liquid oxygen load into the Centaur tank,” said David Gwaltney, CCP interim Launch Vehicle Systems Office deputy manager. “The other team members ensured the pre-launch testing for the thrust vector control and the engine cooldown purges in preparation for launch were proceeding properly. Everyone was extremely happy when the launch successfully occurred on the third attempt.”
Understandably, the HOSC is always a hive of activity on launch day, resulting in a sense of pride and accomplishment for the support team for their contributions toward successful NASA missions. However, the crew flight test of the Starliner was different.
“Each and every Commercial Crew Program mission is special in its own way, especially as we continue to forge a new era of spaceflight while working with commercial partners,” said Maggie Freeman, a program analyst supporting the Launch Vehicle Systems Office within CCP at Marshall. “The crew flight test launch is particularly special to us because it is the first time we have crew aboard the Atlas V on a CCP mission. We were extremely excited to support launch and watch them safely board the International Space Station.”
Critical Hardware Delivery
Marshall also used the mission to deliver hardware to the space station – a replacement for the Urine Processor Pump Control Processor Assembly (PCPA). A malfunctioning pump necessitated an expedited delivery, NASA officials said June 7, requiring a cargo change for the mission. The PCPA converts the crew’s urine into drinkable water.
Marshall’s CCP team members take time for a group photo from the HOSC following the Starliner launch. From left, Miranda Holton, Sangita Adhikari, Nathaniel Stepp, Lindsey Blair, Deborah Crane, Allen Henning, Spencer Mitchell, Alex Aueron, Preston Beatty, Megan Hines, Peter Jones, Melissa Neel, Brendan Graham, David Gwaltney, Peter Wreschinsky, Aaron Flinchum, Jonathan Carman, and Jimmy Moore.NASA/Nathaniel Stepp“This component is critical for space station operations and CFT was the first available mission providing an opportunity for the replacement to be delivered,” Freeman said. “Due to the PCPA being a large piece of hardware, the ISS, Boeing, and CCP teams assessed the cargo swap requirements and exercised tremendous agility in performing a rapid turnaround to ensure that ISS operations would be maintained.”
Pre-Flight Test Readiness Review
The launch would not have happened without the certification efforts supported by the Marshall CCP team. The first Marshall Center Director CFT Pre-Flight Test Readiness Review was successfully completed in April. After the initial launch attempt May 6, the integrated Boeing, ULA, and CCP teams worked diligently to ensure crew safety remained the top priority. A second round of test readiness was scheduled, with the Marshall CCP team conducting a Marshall Center Director CFT delta pre-flight test readiness review in late May.
For Starliner, the Marshall team’s primary focus was on the certification of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which are the propulsion systems used for translational and rotational control of the spacecraft while on-orbit. The thrusters are essential to mission success, ensuring the spacecraft can get from its initial insertion orbit to the space station and then back to Earth with precisely controlled burns.
Boeing contracted with NASA to use the ULA Atlas V rocket to launch Starliner into orbit. Marshall’s Launch Vehicle Propulsion team evaluated the propulsion systems for the rocket to certify they were ready to launch astronauts to the space station.
Marshall team members and NASA astronaut Josh Cassada developed a new procedure to get the Urine Process Assembly functional and returned to the space station on the CFT flight. This procedure validation was performed at Marshall on June 3-4. From left, Brian O’Connor, Curtis Fox, Steve Wilson, Anita Howard, Roy Price, Mike Gooch, Reggie McCafferty, JP Wilson, Camilla Duenas, Josh Cassada, Diana Marroguin, Harper Cox, Arthur Brown, Kai Yeaton, Jimmy Hill, Ben Craigmyle, and Denny Bartlett. Present but not pictured: Chris Brown, Dona Smith, Allen Hash, Shaun Glasgow, Jill Williamson, Josh Clifton, and Chad Berthelson. NASA JSC/Chris Brown“This includes following any build issues, evaluating any changes to the vehicles, and working with our partners to ensure that the launch vehicle is ready to fly,” said Miranda Holton, CCP Launch Vehicle Propulsion Systems manager.
The HOSC provides engineering and mission operations support for the space station, the Commercial Crew Program, and Artemis missions, as well as science and technology demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within HOSC operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
Silver Snoopy Awards Presented to 17 Marshall Team MembersBy Jessica Barnett
Seventeen team members at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center joined an elite group within the agency’s ranks June 11 as they accepted an award that’s granted to less than 1% of NASA’s workforce: the Silver Snoopy.
An astronaut presents the award each year to NASA employees and contractors who have gone above and beyond in contributing to the human spaceflight program. It is a symbol of the intent and spirit of Space Flight Awareness and includes a sterling silver Snoopy lapel pin that has flown in space, along with a certificate of appreciation and a commendation letter for the employee, both signed by the astronaut.
Recipients of the 2024 Silver Snoopy Awards at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center pose with their awards and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, center, June 11 in Activities Building 4316. From left, front row, Mark Montgomery, Brian Saunders, Mignon Thame, Jessica Chaffin, Rubins, Stefanie Justice, Ellen Rabenberg, and Vince Vanek; back row, Manish Mehta, Bill Sadowski, Brad Addona, Christopher Buckley, Jonathan Burkholder, Joseph McCollister, Stacey Steele, Michael Fiske, Paul Gradl, and Trey Cate. NASA/Charles Beason“One of my favorite parts about my job is getting to share and celebrate the accomplishments of the best that NASA has to offer, and helping to give out the Silver Snoopy awards is just that opportunity,” said Larry Leopard, who serves as associate director, technical, at Marshall and joined NASA astronaut Kate Rubins to present the awards. “These employees embody the More to Marshall slogan – words that signify growth, ambition, and continuous improvement. They’re leaders in cultivating a mindset where every one of us is encouraged to think differently, act decisively, and innovate relentlessly.”
“When we are doing highly dangerous activities, like getting on a rocket to the International Space Station or developing programs for Moon to Mars, we rely on everyone in NASA to support that end goal of exploration and safety,” Rubins said. “Our mission success is in their hands, and this is our way of saying thank you for everything they do.”
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins speaks to attendees at Marshall’s 2024 Silver Snoopy Awards Ceremony held June 11 in Activities Building 4316.NASA/Charles BeasonThe following team members were honored during the ceremony in Activities Building 4316:
- Brad Addona, Engineering Directorate
- Christopher Buckley, Human Exploration Development and Operations Office
- Jonathan Burkholder, Engineering Directorate
- Trey Cate, Office of Strategic Analysis and Communications
- Jessica Chaffin, Engineering Directorate
- Michael Fiske, Jacobs/ESSCA, Science and Technology Office
- Paul Gradl, Engineering Directorate
- Stefanie Justice, Engineering Directorate
- Joseph McCollister, Space Launch System Program
- Manish Mehta, Engineering Directorate
- Mark Montgomery, Jacobs/ESSCA, Engineering Directorate
- Ellen Rabenberg, Engineering Directorate
- Bill Sadowski, Jacobs/ESSCA, Engineering Directorate
- Brian Saunders, L3Harris
- Stacey Steele, Human Exploration Development and Operations Office
- Mignon Thames, Human Landing System Program
- Vince Vanek, Office of the General Counsel
The Silver Snoopy pins awarded flew on NASA’s SpaceX Cargo Resupply Mission-9. The Silver Snoopy award is one of eight awards presented annually by Space Flight Awareness. Additional information, including eligibility criteria, can be found here.
Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
Marshall Engineer Kurt Polzin Receives AIAA Honors AwardBy Daniel Boyette
Advanced space nuclear propulsion systems are critical to NASA’s Moon to Mars vision. On May 15, one of the individuals at the forefront of those future exploration efforts was honored for his contributions.
Kurt Polzin, chief engineer for the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Engineer of the Year award during its awards gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington.
AIAA Executive Director Daniel Dumbacher, left, and AIAA President Laura McGill, right, present NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Chief Engineer Kurt Polzin with the Engineer of the Year Award at the AIAA Awards Gala on May 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.Photo courtesy of AIAA“The use of nuclear technologies will become increasingly important as the nation returns humans to the Moon and then goes onward to Mars, and realizing these benefits will take not just a NASA effort, but a national effort,” Polzin told the audience. “It’s a privilege to work with and lead some of the best people in government, industry, and academia, bringing the nation closer to a future where nuclear power and propulsion technologies in space become common. What we do today will enable science missions and human exploration beyond anything humans have ever achieved for current and future generations of scientists and explorers.”
Since 2021, Polzin has overseen NASA’s nuclear propulsion technology development and maturation efforts. He’s also the chief engineer for the agency’s partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, which aims to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion system in space as soon as 2027.
“To live and work on the Moon, we’ll need a power and transportation infrastructure, and nuclear space systems offer key capability benefits over current state-of-art,” said Anthony Calomino, NASA’s Space Nuclear Technologies portfolio manager under the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. “Kurt’s leadership in this journey to mature our space nuclear propulsion technology is what will get us there. We are proud to see him recognized as AIAA’s Engineer of the Year.”
Q&A with Kurt Polzin
Q: What were your emotions when you went to accept the award?
Polzin: The list of those who have previously received this award is long and illustrious, so it is an honor to be nominated for it. Being selected by my peers as the recipient was a very thrilling and humbling experience. Receiving it at the Kennedy Center, in the presence of many aerospace leaders and my wife in the audience, made it a truly unique and memorable experience.
Q: You’ve previously stated that individual awards are really team awards. How has being a member of a team helped you to be successful?
Polzin: Realizing big ideas requires the contributions and expertise of many people across a range of skills and disciplines, and using nuclear technologies in space is about the most significant idea there is. The team we assembled and continue to grow consists of true experts in their disciplines. I constantly rely on them to ensure we are asking the right questions and making investments to advance our capabilities and position the nation for success.
Polzin delivers his acceptance speech.Photo courtesy of AIAAQ: What excites you most about the future of space exploration?
Polzin: In my lifetime, we have never been closer to fully realizing the benefits of nuclear power and propulsion in space. We now have the potential to cross the threshold and open a new era where nuclear technologies will bring about truly transformational change in how we approach all aspects of space exploration.
Before his current role, Polzin was the Space Systems Team lead in Marshall’s Advanced Concepts Office. He joined NASA in 2004 as a propulsion research engineer.
Polzin has a doctorate and a master’s in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in New Jersey and a bachelor’s in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Ohio State University in Columbus.
He authored or co-authored over 140 publications, including a recently published monograph, and he holds six U.S. patents. He has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville for many years, teaching graduate-level courses in physics and engineering.
Polzin’s other honors include the AIAA Sustained Service Award, the AIAA Greater Huntsville Section’s Martin Schilling Outstanding Service and Earl Pearce Professional of the Year, and multiple NASA Patent, Special Service, and Group Achievement awards. He is an associate fellow of AIAA and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the SNP Office.
With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and 95 corporate members, AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession.
Learn more about Space Nuclear Propulsion.
Boyette, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office and Marshall’s Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications.
NASA Announces Student Launch WinnersNASA presented the 2024 Student Launch challenge award winners in a virtual award ceremony June 7. Awards were presented to students from colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and informal education groups who designed, built, and launched high-powered, amateur rockets and scientific payloads. In addition to the overall winners, other awards were presented for safety, vehicle design, social media presence, STEM engagement, and more. The Student Launch challenge was held May 3 in Toney, Alabama, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Read more about Student Launch.
Meet the Simunauts: Ohio State Students to Test Space Food Solutions for NASABy Savannah Bullard
NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge kicks off its final eight-week demonstration this month, and a new crew is running the show.
NASA’s partner for the Deep Space Food Challenge, the Methuselah Foundation, has teamed up with Ohio State University in Columbus to facilitate the challenge’s third and final phase. The university is employing current and former students to serve on a “Simunaut” crew to maintain and operate the food production technologies during the demonstration period.
Ohio State University has hired four student “Simunauts” (simulated analog astronauts) to test NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge technologies at the Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center’s Food Processing Pilot Plant this summer. From left, Charlie Frick, Fuanyi Fobellah, Sakura Sugiyama, and Mehr Un Nisa.Ohio State UniversityThe Deep Space Food Challenge creates novel food production systems that offer safe, nutritious, and delicious food for long-duration human exploration missions while conscious of waste, resources, and labor. The challenge could also benefit humanity by helping address Earth’s food scarcity problems. In this challenge phase, NASA will offer a $1.5 million prize purse to winning U.S. teams after demonstrations are completed during an awards ceremony on August 16.
“It’s easy for a team with intimate knowledge of their food systems to operate them. This will not be the case for astronauts who potentially use these solutions on deep-space missions,” said Angela Herblet, Program Analyst for NASA’s Centennial Challenges and Challenge Manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge. “Incorporating the Simunauts will add a unique flair that will test the acceptability and ease of use of these systems.”
The demonstrations will occur inside Ohio State’s Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center’s Food Processing Pilot Plant until July 31. Meet the students behind the demonstrations:
Fuanyi Fobellah
Fuanyi Fobellah was a picky eater as a child. But, when he began wrestling in school, food became an essential part of his life. Now a senior majoring in food business management at Ohio State, Fobellah combines his love for space exploration with his food, nutrition, business, and innovation knowledge.
Q: How does the work you’re doing this summer fit into the overall NASA mission, and how do your contributions fit into that mission?
A: Food can easily become an overlooked aspect of space travel, but humans can only live and travel to different planets with sustainable food systems. That’s why a challenge focused on developing food systems for space travel is so vital to NASA’s mission.
Sakura Sugiyama
Sakura Sugiyama’s childhood hobbies were cooking and baking, and with two scientists as parents, the Deep Space Food Challenge piqued the interest of the recent Ohio State graduate. Sugiyama obtained her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology and plans to work in research and development in the food industry.
Q: Why do you think this work is important for the future of civilization?
A: Food variety, sustainability, energy efficiency – all of those are issues we face here on Earth due to climate change, increasing populations, and food insecurity. I hope that solving those issues in space will also help solve those problems on Earth.
Charlie Frick
A fifth-year student studying animal sciences, Charlie Frick, found his passion while growing up on his family’s farm. While finishing his degree, he hopes the Deep Space Food Challenge will allow him to use his agriculture and animal science knowledge to support space technology, nutrition, and food regeneration.
Q: Now that you’re familiar with NASA’s public prize competitions, how do you think they benefit the future of human space exploration?
A: These challenges help a lot because sometimes you need that third person who doesn’t have that background but can come up with something to help. These challenges are critical in helping bring about technologies that otherwise would never exist.
Mehir Un Nisa
Mehir Un Nisa is a graduate student in Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology. As a kid who dreamed about working at NASA, Un Nisa is using her expertise in food science to make that dream a reality and get a foot in the door of the agency’s food and nutrition programs.
Q: How does it feel to work alongside NASA on a project like this?
A: Working with NASA empowers me as a researcher, and it makes me feel good that food science has a part in that big name. It’s a dream come true for me.
The Deep Space Food Challenge, a NASA Centennial Challenge, is a coordinated effort between NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Subject matter experts at Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center support the competition. NASA’s Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed at Marshall Space Flight Center. The Methuselah Foundation, in partnership with NASA, oversees the United States and international competitors.
Learn more about the Deep Space Food Challenge.
Bullard, an Aeyon/MTS employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
NASA, Global Astronomers Await Rare Nova ExplosionBy Rick Smith
Around the world this summer, professional and amateur astronomers alike will be fixed on one small constellation deep in the night sky. But it’s not the seven stars of Corona Borealis, the “Northern Crown,” that have sparked such fascination.
It’s a dark spot among them where an impending nova event – so bright it will be visible on Earth with the naked eye – is poised to occur.
A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. The red giant is a large sphere in shades of red, orange, and white, with the side facing the white dwarf the lightest shades. The white dwarf is hidden in a bright glow of white and yellows, which represent an accretion disk around the star. A stream of material, shown as a diffuse cloud of red, flows from the red giant to the white dwarf. When the red giant moves behind the white dwarf, a nova explosion on the white dwarf ignites, creating a ball of ejected nova material shown in pale orange. After the fog of material clears, a small white spot remains, indicating that the white dwarf has survived the explosion.NASA“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”
T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a dead star with a mass comparable to that of our Sun – and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbor.
The hydrogen from the red giant accretes on the surface of the white dwarf, causing a buildup of pressure and heat. Eventually, it triggers a thermonuclear explosion big enough to blast away that accreted material. For T CrB, that event appears to reoccur, on average, every 80 years.
Don’t confuse a nova with a supernova, a final, titanic explosion that destroys some dying stars, Hounsell said. In a nova event, the dwarf star remains intact, sending the accumulated material hurtling into space in a blinding flash. The cycle typically repeats itself over time, a process which can carry on for tens or hundreds of thousands of years.
“There are a few recurrent novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system,” Hounsell said. “It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat.”
The first recorded sighting of the T CrB nova was more than 800 years ago, in autumn 1217, when a man named Burchard, abbot of Ursberg, Germany, noted his observance of “a faint star that for a time shone with great light.”
The T CrB nova was last seen from Earth in 1946. Its behavior over the past decade appears strikingly similar to observed behavior in a similar timeframe leading up to the 1946 eruption. If the pattern continues, some researchers say, the nova event could occur by September 2024.
What should stargazers look for? The Northern Crown is a horseshoe-shaped curve of stars west of the Hercules constellation, ideally spotted on clear nights. It can be identified by locating the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere – Arcturus and Vega – and tracking a straight line from one to the other, which will lead skywatchers to Hercules and the Corona Borealis.
A conceptual image of how to find Hercules and the “Northern Crown” in the night sky, created using planetarium software. Look up after sunset during summer months to find Hercules, then scan between Vega and Arcturus, where the distinct pattern of Corona Borealis may be identified.NASAThe outburst will be brief. Once it erupts, it will be visible to the naked eye for a little less than a week – but Hounsell is confident it will be quite a sight to see.
Dr. Elizabeth Hays, chief of Goddard’s Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, agreed. She said part of the fun in preparing to observe the event is seeing the enthusiasm among amateur stargazers, whose passion for extreme space phenomena has helped sustain a long and mutually rewarding partnership with NASA.
“Citizen scientists and space enthusiasts are always looking for those strong, bright signals that identify nova events and other phenomena,” Hays said. “Using social media and email, they’ll send out instant alerts, and the flag goes up. We’re counting on that global community interaction again with T CrB.”
Hays is the project scientist for NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which has made gamma-ray observations from low Earth orbit since 2008. Fermi is poised to observe T CrB when the nova eruption is detected, along with other space-based missions including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), and the European Space Agency’s INTEGRAL (Extreme Universe Surveyor). Numerous ground-based radio telescopes and optical imagers, including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array in Mexico, also will take part. Collectively, the various telescopes and instruments will capture data across the visible and non-visible light spectrum.
“We’ll observe the nova event at its peak and through its decline, as the visible energy of the outburst fades,” Hounsell said. “But it’s equally critical to obtain data during the early rise to eruption – so the data collected by those avid citizen scientists on the lookout now for the nova will contribute dramatically to our findings.”
For astrophysics researchers, that promises a rare opportunity to shed new light on the structure and dynamics of recurring stellar explosions like this one.
“Typically, nova events are so faint and far away that it’s hard to clearly identify where the erupting energy is concentrated,” Hays said. “This one will be really close, with a lot of eyes on it, studying the various wavelengths and hopefully giving us data to start unlocking the structure and specific processes involved. We can’t wait to get the full picture of what’s going on.”
Some of those eyes will be very new. Gamma-ray imagers didn’t exist the last time T CrB erupted in 1946, and IXPE’s polarization capability – which identifies the organization and alignment of electromagnetic waves to determine the structure and internal processes of high-energy phenomena – is also a brand-new tool in X-ray astronomy. Combining their data could offer unprecedented insight into the lifecycles of binary systems and the waning but powerful stellar processes that fuel them.
Learn more about NASA astrophysics.
Smith, an Aeyon/MTS employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
‘Super’ Star Cluster Shines in New Look from NASA’s ChandraWesterlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with other NASA telescopes, is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced.
This is the first data to be publicly released from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS, led by astronomers from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo. As part of EWOCS, Chandra observed Westerlund 1 for about 12 days in total.
An image of the Westerlund 1 star cluster and the surrounding region, as detected in X-ray and optical light. The black canvas of space is peppered with colored dots of light of various sizes, mostly in shades of red, green, blue, and white.X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/M. Guarcello et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. FrattareCurrently, only a handful of stars form in our galaxy each year, but in the past the situation was different. The Milky Way used to produce many more stars, likely hitting its peak of churning out dozens or hundreds of stars per year about 10 billion years ago and then gradually declining ever since. Astronomers think that most of this star formation took place in massive clusters of stars, known as “super star clusters,” like Westerlund 1. These are young clusters of stars that contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the Sun. Westerlund 1 is between about 3 million and 5 million years old.
This new image shows the new deep Chandra data along with previously released data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The X-rays detected by Chandra show young stars (mostly represented as white and pink) as well as diffuse heated gas throughout the cluster (colored pink, green, and blue, in order of increasing temperatures for the gas). Many of the stars picked up by Hubble appear as yellow and blue dots.
Only a few super star clusters still exist in our galaxy, but they offer important clues about this earlier era when most of our galaxy’s stars formed. Westerlund 1 is the biggest of these remaining super star clusters in the Milky Way and contains a mass between 50,000 and 100,000 Suns. It is also the closest super star cluster to Earth at about 13,000 light-years.
These qualities make Westerlund 1 an excellent target for studying the impact of a super star cluster’s environment on the formation process of stars and planets as well as the evolution of stars over a broad range of masses.
This new deep Chandra dataset of Westerlund 1 has more than tripled the number of X-ray sources known in the cluster. Before the EWOCS project, Chandra had detected 1,721 sources in Westerlund 1. The EWOCS data found almost 6,000 X-ray sources, including fainter stars with lower masses than the Sun. This gives astronomers a new population to study.
One revelation is that 1,075 stars detected by Chandra are squeezed into the middle of Westerlund 1 within four light-years of the cluster’s center. For a sense of how crowded this is, four light-years is about the distance between the Sun and the next closest star to Earth.
The diffuse emission seen in the EWOCS data represents the first detection of a halo of hot gas surrounding the center of Westerlund 1, which astronomers think will be crucial in assessing the cluster’s formation and evolution, and giving a more precise estimate of its mass.
A paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, led by Mario Guarcello from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo, discusses the survey and the first results. Follow-up papers will discuss more about the results, including detailed studies of the brightest X-ray sources. This future work will analyze other EWOCS observations, involving NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer).
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 Awards Contract for Safety and Mission Assurance ServicesNASA has selected KBR Wyle Services LLC, of Fulton, Maryland, to provide safety and mission assurance services to the agency.
The Safety and Mission Assurance, Audits, Assessments, and Analysis (SA3) Services contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision and a maximum potential value of approximately $75.3 million. The three-year base performance period of this contract begins August 1, 2024, and is followed by a two-year option, which would end July 31, 2029.
The SA3 contract will provide safety and mission assurance services to NASA Headquarters and other NASA centers, programs, projects, and activities through the NASA Safety Center. These services include, but aren’t limited to, audit/assessment/analysis support, safety assessments and hazard analysis, reliability and maintainability analysis, risk analysis and management, supply chain data management and analytics, software safety and assurance, training and outreach, quality engineering and assurance, and information systems support.
NASA Selects Raytheon Company to Build Landsat Next Instruments
NASA selects Raytheon Company to provide three instruments and related services, with an option for one additional instrument, in support of the Landsat Next mission based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The contract includes a cost-plus-award-fee base period and a cost-plus-fixed-fee option period with a total value of $506.7 million. The contractor will provide the design, engineering analyses, algorithms, fabrication, testing, delivery, and support for the Landsat Next Instruments. The work will be primarily performed at the contractor’s facilities in El Segundo, California.
The Landsat Next mission is a major component of NASA’s Earth science portfolio, advancing Earth observing technologies, science, and applications. Landsat Next will continue the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, while transforming the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to the public and other users across governments, industry, and academia.
With Landsat Next, NASA is moving from a single Landsat spacecraft to developing a constellation of three smaller satellites able to deliver two to three times the temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution of previous Landsat satellites.
The new 26-band super-spectral Landsat Next constellation will enhance existing Landsat applications, building upon the 50-year Landsat legacy, improving life on Earth through climate and technological advancements, and unlocking new applications that support water quality and aquatic health assessments, crop production and soil conservation, forest management and monitoring, climate and snow dynamics research, and mineral mapping.
The Landsat Next mission is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to advance Earth observing technologies, science, and applications under the Sustainable Land Imaging Program to more effectively map, monitor, and manage America’s land, water, and coastal resources.
For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:
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Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
443-858-1779
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
Lakita Lowe: Leading Space Commercialization Innovations and Fostering STEM Engagement
Lakita Lowe is at the forefront of space commercialization, seamlessly merging scientific expertise with visionary leadership to propel NASA’s commercial ambitions and ignite a passion for STEM in future generations. As a project integrator for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program (CLDP), Lowe leverages her extensive background in scientific research and biomedical studies to bridge the gap between science and commercial innovation.
Lowe recently supported both planning and real-time operations contributing to the successful completion of the Axiom-3 private astronaut mission which launched in January 2024 and is gearing up to serve as CLDP’s Axiom-4 private astronaut mission lead. Her responsibilities include managing commercial activity requests to ensure they align with NASA’s policies, supporting real-time mission operations from CLDP’s console station, and working with various stakeholders to ensure commercial policy documentation is updated to align with the agency’s current guidelines.
“The commercially owned and operated low Earth orbit destinations will offer services that NASA, along with other customers, can purchase, thereby stimulating the growth of commercial activities,” said Lowe.
Official portrait of Lakita Lowe. Credit: NASA/Bill StaffordInitially set to attend pharmacy school, a chance encounter at a career fair led her to NASA. Seventeen years later, Lowe now supports the enablement of NASA’s goal to transition human presence in low Earth orbit from a government-run destination to a sustainable economy.
Lowe’s work has spanned various NASA programs, including the Human Health and Performance Directorate in the Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences (BRES) Division. Lowe’s role in BRES supported NASA research involving the understanding of human adaptation to spaceflight and planetary environments, the development of effective countermeasures, and the development and dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge.
“The efforts that go into preparing crew members for spaceflight and ensuring they maintain good health upon their return to Earth is amazing,” she said, highlighting their rigorous pre-flight and post-flight testing.
Lakita Lowe prepares samples for analysis in a microbiology laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.Lowe’s passion for science was ignited in high school by her biology teacher, whose teaching style captivated her curiosity. She received a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in chemistry from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With five publications completed during her tenure at NASA (two of which were NASA-related), Lowe has contributed to our understanding of the agency’s vision for human spaceflight and commercial research and development on the orbiting laboratory.
Lowe is in the process of completing her Ph.D. in Education (Learning, Design, and Technology) from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with a dissertation involving the establishment of telesurgery training programs at medical institutions. She is exploring a field that holds significant promise for space exploration and remote medical care. This technology will enable surgical procedures to be performed remotely, a vital capability for astronauts on long-duration missions.
Lakita Lowe at the 2022 International Space Station Research & Development Conference (ISSRDC) in Washington D.C.Lowe dedicated 14 years of her career to integrating science payloads for the International Space Station Program. Early in her career, she worked as a payloads flight controller as a lead increment scientist representative, a dual position between NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. After two years supporting real-time console operations, Lowe served as a research scientist with NASA’s Program Scientist’s Office, where she assessed individual science priorities for the agency’s sponsoring organizations’ portfolio to be implemented on the space station.
Later in her career, she worked as a research portfolio manager in the International Space Station Program’s Research Integration Office where she managed the feasibility and strategic planning for investigations involving remote sensing, technology development, STEM, and commercial utilization. She worked closely with researchers sending their experiments to the orbiting laboratory, tracking their progress from start to finish.
Now, in the commercial sector, her focus has shifted toward policy and compliance, ensuring commercial activities align with NASA’s regulations and guidance.
Lakita Lowe (second to left) at a NSBE SCP (National Society of Black Engineers – Space City Professionals) Chapter membership drive on May 23, 2023. Credit: NASA/Robert MarkowitzFor Lowe, one of the most rewarding aspects of her job is the ability to inspire young minds. Her advice to young Black women interested in STEM is to not limit themselves and to explore the vast opportunities NASA offers beyond engineering and science roles. She emphasizes the importance of NASA engaging with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority-serving institutions to spread awareness about the opportunities within the agency.
“Considering my busy schedule, I try to make myself available for speaking engagements and mentoring early-career individuals when possible,” she said.
Lowe actively participates in organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers and serves as a mentor to interns at Johnson. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and Johnson’s African American Employee Resource Group.
Lowe poses for a selfie at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.Lowe’s relentless pursuit of knowledge and her unwavering dedication to STEM education continue to inspire generations and pave the way for a more dynamic future in human spaceflight.
“As an African American woman at NASA, I am excited about the future of space exploration, where diversity and inclusion will drive innovative solutions and inspire the next generation to reach for the stars.”
Quirky Circling Behavior in Mice Informs Research on Humans in Space
During the Rodent Research-1 (RR-1) mission flown to the ISS in 2014, videos that were taken to observe the mice revealed an unusual behavior that researchers are still working to understand. Young (16-week-old) but not old (32-week-old) mice engaged in a high level of ‘running’ behavior beginning within two weeks of launch (Sci Reports, 2019).
Some alternate interpretations of the running behavior of mice on orbit include significant scientific literature on the rewarding effects of physical exercise, as seen in the footage of Astronaut Alan Bean on Space Lab below. A multi-investigator collaborative team of scientists is conducting follow-up studies on the ground as well as in space on the upcoming Rodent Research-26 mission to understand more about what could be driving this behavior. Comprehensive and in-depth molecular biology studies will be looking at potential indicators of stress (maladaptive coping) or whether the running behavior is a beneficial adaptation to the weightlessness of space.
Watch the video below to see the mice (and humans) in space.
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Video of the quirky circling behavior of mice aboard the ISS was recently released. Scientists will be doing further research to understand what's behind this unexplained behavior.NASA Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA NASA Biological & Physical SciencesBPS administers NASA’s: BPS partners with the research community and a wide range of organizations to accomplish its mission. Grants…
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A Solitary Sight
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen snapped a photo of the waning gibbous moon from the International Space Station as it soared 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean near the northeast coast of South America on Sept. 30, 2023.
Waning gibbous is one of eight moon phases, occurring after the full moon. The Sun always illuminates half of the Moon while the other half remains dark, but how much we can see of that illuminated half changes as the Moon travels through its orbit. As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the lighted side appears to shrink, but the Moon’s orbit is simply carrying it out of view from our perspective.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA/Andreas Mogensen
NASA Ames Hosts National Wildfire Coordinating Group
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NWCG Executive Board members stand in front of giant turbines in the National Full Scale Aerodynamic Complex during their visit to Ames Research Center on May 23, 2024. USAF/Patrick GouldingOn May 21-23, 2024, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) visited NASA Ames Research Center, with participants representing 13 agencies and organizations. NWCG is a cooperative group focused on providing national leadership to enable interoperable wildland fire operations among federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial partners. NASA became an associate member of NWCG in February 2024, with the goal of increasing collaboration across agencies and leveraging NASA data, technology, and innovation for nation-wide efforts in wildland fire management.
NASA’s Approach to Wildland Fire ManagementAcross the agency, NASA’s approach to wildland fire management involves the application of research and technology before, during, and after a fire, in order to help ecosystems, animals, and human communities thrive. At Ames, two examples of these capabilities are the project office for FireSense and the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project.
Wildland fire solutions are a major theme within NASA’s Earth Action strategy. FireSense is part of this NASA-wide approach to wildland fire management, working with operational agencies and partners to measure pre-fire fuels conditions, active fire behavior, post-fire impacts and threats, and provide air quality forecasting. ACERO develops cutting-edge technology to remotely identify, monitor, and suppress wildland fire through the use of uncrewed aircraft.
Team members from both projects participated in the NWCG visit, and are represented in NWCG; NASA’s involvement is supported by Parimal Kopardekar (Director of the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute and the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Mission Integration Office) and Michael Falkowski (NASA Wildland Fires and FireSense Program Manager). Together, they represent NASA’s cross-mission directorate approach to managing wildland fire across the fire life cycle.
NASA Ames’ Involvement in NWCG: Data and Human Performance CharacteristicsBy hosting NWCG’s annual offsite Executive Board meeting, Ames personnel were able to connect board members with NASA subject matter experts and project managers, provide tours of Ames facilities relevant to wildland fire management, and discuss NASA’s core capabilities and how they can augment the NWCG’s nation-wide fire management efforts. Specifically, NASA’s data capabilities and human performance characteristics studies were at the forefront of the day’s events.
On the data front, conversation centered around how to collectively tackle data continuity, storage, and accessibility. Large-scale computing resources are increasingly essential to store, manage, and incorporate data relevant to wildland fire management. With more advanced sensors on crewed aircraft, uncrewed aircraft, and satellites, addressing data continuity, storage, and accessibility are an essential piece of supporting wildland fire managers.
Ian Brosnan, Principal Investigator for NASA Earth eXchange (NEX), provided details about the NEX supercomputing and data analytics platform at Ames. The platform serves as a tool to increase availability of data from NASA missions and other sources, models, analysis tools, and research results, and the team uses this platform to investigate questions relevant to the increasing impact of wildland fire. For instance, their work uses machine learning and complex data integration to link air quality emissions and fire behavior, in order to detect wildfire ignition and spread.
The other focus of the Ames tour was NASA simulations and studies surrounding human performance characteristics, which refers to the human component of wildland fire management – such as managing fatigue in the field. Supporting the workforce is a primary goal for improving overall response to wildland fire management, as highlighted in the Wildfire Mitigation and Management Commission Report.
On this visit, NWCG members were able to meet with Jessica Nowinski, Division Chief of the Human Systems Integration Division, for a Human Factors overview, followed by a presentation by Immanuel Barshi on astronaut and pilot training, and a presentation by Cassie Hilditch on fatigue studies. NWCG Executive Board members were also able to tour the Airspace Operations Laboratory, with a particular focus on drones. The visit concluded with a tour of the National Full Scale Aerodynamic Complex, colloquially referred to as the Wind Tunnel.
The NWCG tour concluded in the National Full Scale Aerodynamic Complex; the group provides a sense of scale for just how massive the turbines are that pull air into the 120-foot wind tunnel. Patrick Goulding/USAF The Future of NASA and NWCGNWCG’s strength is fostering partnership, and many discussions over the three-day visit leveraged complementary strengths between the agencies. Bringing together research specialties, technology innovation, existing programs and campaigns, and subject expertise makes the national approach to wildland fire management more unified, efficient, and effective.
Looking forward, NASA’s involvement with NWCG will continue to produce partnership opportunities and further the national wildland fire management goals. NASA personnel are connecting with NWCG committees – including Data Management, Geospatial, Aviation and Risk Management – and will continue to support NWCG objectives by connecting subject matter experts across the agency with NWCG subject matter experts in the field.
About the AuthorMilan LoiaconoScience Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
Share Details Last Updated Jun 11, 2024 Related TermsNASA Selects 2024 Small Business, Research Teams for Tech Development
NASA will award funding to nearly 250 small business teams to develop new technologies to address agency priorities, such as carbon neutrality and energy storage for various applications in space and on Earth. The new awards from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program invest in a diverse portfolio of American small businesses and research institutions to support NASA’s future missions.
About 34% of the companies selected are first-time NASA SBIR/STTR recipients. Each proposal team will receive $150,000 to establish the merit and feasibility of their innovations for a total agency investment of $44.85 million.
“NASA is proud to continue its commitment to the creation and elevation of technologies that blaze trails in space and on Earth,” said Jenn Gustetic, director of early-stage innovation and partnerships for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
The Phase I SBIR contract awards small businesses and lasts for six months, while the Phase I STTR contract awards small businesses in partnership with a research institution and lasts for 13 months. In total, 209 small businesses received SBIR awards, and 39 small businesses and their research institution partners – including eight Minority Serving Institutions – received STTR awards. The complete list of this year’s SBIR and STTR awardees are available online.
One of the firms working to address carbon neutrality is Exquadrum Inc., a minority-owned small business in Victorville, California. Exquadrum’s proposed technology will contribute to NASA’s effort to make the U.S. carbon neutral by 2050. The proposed technology offers higher energy conversion efficiency with no emission of pollutants. The propulsion system is compact and lightweight compared to current systems. The fuel and its products are safe to handle, and the propulsion system is reliable under extreme weather conditions. The propulsion system has the potential to aid the exploration of planets that have atmospheres like that of Mars.
“Through our partnership with, and investment in, small businesses and research institutions, NASA continues to forge a crucial path in the development of technologies that have a concerted focus on long-term commercial uses,” said Jason L. Kessler, program executive for NASA’s SBIR/STTR program. “Our ongoing support of diverse innovators from throughout the country will continue to foster an ecosystem that will nurture the intrapreneurial spirit to drive innovation and exciting results.”
The new SBIR/STTR investments will impact 41 states, including a team with Energized Composite Technologies, in Orlando, Florida, partnering with the University of Central Florida. Together, they will explore using carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite structural batteries for repurposable space applications, offering a multifunctional solution that integrates structural integrity with energy storage capabilities. The proposed structural battery panels integrate energy storage functionality into the structural components of the spacecraft, minimizing the additional space required for electrical storage while maximizing the available volume for payload. The structural battery panels used for the space vehicle could be repurposed after landing because the thermoplastic-based structural panels can be reshaped for other uses.
NASA selected Phase I proposals to receive funding by judging their technical merit and responsiveness to known challenges. Based on their progress during Phase I, companies may submit proposals for up to $850,000 in Phase II funding to develop a prototype and subsequent SBIR/STTR Post Phase II opportunities.
To learn more about NASA’s SBIR/STTR program and apply to future opportunities, visit:
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Jasmine Hopkins
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov
