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El X-59 de la NASA completa las pruebas electromagnéticas
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) El avión de investigación F-15D de la NASA está posicionado junto al X-59 durante las pruebas de compatibilidad electromagnética en la Planta 42 de las Fuerzas Aéreas de EE.UU. en Palmdale, California. Los investigadores activaron el radar, el transpondedor de banda C y las radios del F-15D a diferentes distancias del X-59 para evaluar las posibles interferencias electromagnéticas con los sistemas críticos de vuelo de la aeronave, garantizando que el X-59 pueda operar de forma segura con otras aeronaves. Estas pruebas demostraron que la integración de la aeronave está madurando y superó un importante obstáculo que la acerca un paso más al primer vuelo.NASA/Carla ThomasRead this story in English here.
El silencioso avión supersónico de investigación X-59 de la NASA ha superado las pruebas electromagnéticas, confirmando que sus sistemas funcionarán juntos de forma segura y sin interferencias a través de diferentes escenarios.
“Alcanzar esta fase demuestra que la integración de la aeronave está avanzando,” dijo Yohan Lin, jefe de aviónica del X-59 de la NASA. “Es emocionante ver el progreso, sabiendo que hemos superado un gran obstáculo que nos acerca al primer vuelo del X-59.”
Las interferencias electromagnéticas ocurren cuando una fuente de campo eléctrico o magnético afecta a las operaciones de una aeronave, pudiendo afectar la seguridad. Estas interferencias, ya sean de una fuente externa o de los propios equipos de la aeronave, pueden alterar las señales electrónicas que controlan los sistemas críticos – similar a los efectos que produce la estática en un radio de un aparato emisor cercano, como un teléfono.
Las pruebas, realizadas en las instalaciones del contratista Lockheed Martin Skunk Works en Palmdale, California, garantizaron que los sistemas de a bordo del X-59 – como radios, equipos de navegación y sensores – no interfirieran entre sí ni causaran problemas inesperados. Durante estas pruebas, los ingenieros activaron cada sistema de la aeronave uno a la vez mientras monitoreaba los otros sistemas para detectar posibles interferencias.
El avión supersónico silencioso de investigación X-59 de la NASA ha superado con éxito las pruebas de interferencia electromagnética (EMI, por su acrónimo ingles) en Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, en Palmdale (California). Durante las pruebas EMI, el equipo examinó cada uno de los sistemas electrónicos internos del X-59, asegurándose de que funcionaban entre sí sin interferencias. El X-59 está diseñado para volar más rápido que la velocidad del sonido, reduciendo el estruendo fuerte a un estampido sónico más silencioso.NASA/Carla Thomas“Estas pruebas nos ayudaron a determinar si los sistemas del X-59 interfieren entre sí,” explicó Lin. “En esencia, activamos un sistema y monitorizamos el otro para detectar ruidos, fallos o errores.”
El X-59 generará un estampido más silencioso en lugar de un estruendo fuerte mientras vuela más rápido que la velocidad del sonido. La aeronave es la pieza central de la misión Quesst de la NASA, que proporcionará a los reguladores información que podría ayudar a levantar las prohibiciones actuales de los vuelos supersónicos comerciales sobre tierra. Actualmente, la aeronave está siendo sometida a pruebas en tierra para garantizar su seguridad y rendimiento. Recientemente se han completado con éxito una serie de pruebas de motor. Las pruebas de interferencias electromagnéticas para examinar los sistemas electrónicos internos del X-59 siguieron.
En otras pruebas de interferencias electromagnéticas, el equipo examinó el funcionamiento del tren de aterrizaje del X-59, asegurándose de que este componente crítico puede extenderse y retraerse sin afectar a otros sistemas. También probaron que el cierre de interruptor de combustible funcionara correctamente sin interferencias.
Durante estas pruebas también se evaluó la compatibilidad electromagnética, para garantizar que los sistemas del X-59 funcionen correctamente cuando eventualmente vuele cerca de aviones de investigación de la NASA.
El piloto de pruebas de la NASA Jim Less se prepara para salir de la cabina del silencioso avión supersónico X-59 entre las pruebas de interferencia electromagnética (EMI). Las pruebas EMI garantizan el correcto funcionamiento de los sistemas del avión en diversas condiciones de radiación electromagnética. El X-59 es la pieza central de la misión Quesst de la NASA, diseñada para demostrar la tecnología supersónica.NASA/Carla ThomasLos investigadores colocaron el X-59 en el suelo frente al F-15D de la NASA, a una distancia de 47 pies y luego a 500 pies. La proximidad de las dos aeronaves reproducía las condiciones necesarias para que el F-15D utilice una sonda especial para recopilar mediciones sobre las ondas de choque que producirá el X-59.
“Queremos confirmar que hay compatibilidad entre los dos aviones, incluso a corta distancia,” dijo Lin.
Para las pruebas de compatibilidad electromagnética, el equipo encendió el motor del X-59 al mismo tiempo que encendía el radar del F-15D, el transpondedor de radar de banda C y los radios. Los datos del X-59 se transmitieron al Centro de Operaciones Móviles de la NASA, donde el personal de la sala de control y los ingenieros observaron si se producían anomalías.
“Lo primero que hay que hacer es descubrir cualquier posible interferencia electromagnética o problema de compatibilidad electromagnética en tierra,” explica Lin. “Esto reduce el riesgo y nos asegura que no nos enteremos de los problemas en el aire.”
Ahora que han concluido las pruebas electromagnéticas, el X-59 está listo para pasar a las pruebas de pájaro de hierro virtual (una estructura que se utiliza para probar los sistemas de una aeronave en un laboratorio, simulando un vuelo real), en las que se introducirán datos en el avión bajo condiciones normales y de fallo, y después a las pruebas de rodaje antes del vuelo.
Artículo Traducido por: Priscila Valdez
Share Details Last Updated Mar 12, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactNicolas Cholulanicolas.h.cholula@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms Explore More 11 min read La NASA identifica causa de pérdida de material del escudo térmico de Orion de Artemis I Article 3 months ago 8 min read Preguntas frecuentes: La verdadera historia del cuidado de la salud de los astronautas en el espacio Article 4 months ago 4 min read El X-59 enciende su motor por primera vez rumbo al despegue Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAArmstrong Flight Research Center
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NASA’s Record-Shattering, Theory-Breaking MMS Mission Turns 10
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NASA’s Record-Shattering, Theory-Breaking MMS Mission Turns 10Since its launch on March 12, 2015, NASA’s MMS, or Magnetospheric Multiscale, mission has been rewriting our understanding of a key physical process that is important across the universe, from black holes to the Sun to Earth’s protective magnetic field.
This process, called magnetic reconnection, occurs when magnetic field lines tangle and explosively realign, flinging away nearby particles. Around Earth, a single magnetic reconnection event can release as much energy in a couple of hours as the entire United States uses in a day.
Over the past 10 years, thousands of research papers with discoveries by MMS have enabled a wide range of technical and scientific advances, such as those about the conditions on the Sun that create space weather, which can impact technology and communications at Earth. It has also enabled insights for fusion energy technologies.
“The MMS mission has been a very important asset in NASA’s heliophysics fleet observatory,” said Guan Le, MMS mission lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It has utterly changed how we understand magnetic reconnection.”
An infographic listing MMS’ accomplishments after 10 years in space. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Kristen PerrinStudying magnetic reconnection is key to understanding where this energy goes and how it can affect us down on the ground.
“The MMS mission not only studies universal physical processes, but it also allows us to probe the mechanisms that connect big eruptions on the Sun to things we experience on Earth, such as auroras, geomagnetic storms, and even power outages in extreme cases,” said Kevin Genestreti, MMS science deputy principal investigator and lead scientist at Southwest Research Institute’s Space Sector in Durham, New Hampshire.
The Perfect LaboratoryUsing four identical spacecraft, MMS studies magnetic reconnection while traveling in a long, oval-shaped orbit around Earth — a perfect laboratory for closely studying magnetic reconnection.
“You can measure reconnection in a laboratory, but the scales are so very small there that you can’t make the detailed measurements needed to really understand reconnection,” said Jim Burch, principal investigator for MMS at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
Magnetic reconnection primarily happens in two locations around Earth, one located on the side facing the Sun, and another behind Earth farther away from the Sun. In their orbit, the four MMS spacecraft repeatedly pass through these key locations.
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Before MMS, scientists only had a limited understanding of magnetic reconnection. But by improving instrument measurement speeds tenfold, MMS has been able to dramatically reshape what we know about the process. To date, MMS data has led to over 1,500 published scientific articles.
“For example, it turned out that the basic theory of reconnection in turbulent regions was wrong because previous missions couldn’t make observations at the level MMS can,” Burch said. “We also found reconnection in a lot of places that weren’t predicted.”
Working out new and refined theories of magnetic reconnection was an integral part of the MMS mission from the outset.
“One of the truly groundbreaking findings from MMS is that the heart of reconnection has a well-ordered beat – even if everything around is turbulent,” said Michael Hesse, MMS theory and modeling lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “This shows that precision measurement can decide between competing theories.”
Enabling Breakthroughs for Science and ScientistsThe mission’s successes have also been a boon to young scientists, who are closely involved with the mission at all levels.
“In addition to its scientific achievements, it has also helped almost 50 students get doctorate degrees and enabled early career scientists to grow into leadership positions,” Le said.
To foster young scientists, MMS provides early career research grants to team members. The MMS team also created “Leads In-Training” roles to bring early career scientists to the table for big mission decisions and provide them the experience they need to move into leadership positions. The program has been so successful it is now required for all NASA Heliophysics missions.
Breaking RecordsBeyond its scientific achievements, MMS also holds several records. Only months after launch, MMS received its first Guinness World Record for highest GPS fix at 44,000 miles above Earth. It would later shatter this record as it moved into a longer orbit, taking it 116,300 miles — halfway to the Moon — away from GPS transponders at Earth. GPS is designed to send signals down toward Earth, so using it in space, where signals are weak, is challenging. By using GPS at high altitudes, MMS has shown its potential for other applications.
“This GPS demonstration has been of great interest for the developers of the Artemis missions, which is testing GPS at lunar distances,” said Jim Clapsadle, MMS mission director at NASA Goddard.
The mission also holds the Guinness World Record for smallest satellite formation, with just 2.6 miles between spacecraft. Over the years, MMS’ four spacecraft have flown in lines and pyramid-shaped formations from 5 to 100 miles across to help scientists study magnetic reconnection on a range of scales. In that time, the spacecraft’s health has remained remarkably well.
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“The hardware has proved very reliable, even now, 10 years into flight,” said Trevor Williams, MMS flight dynamics lead at NASA Goddard.
After launch, Williams and the flight operations team came up with more fuel-efficient ways to maneuver the spacecraft and keep them at their designated separations. As a result, the mission still has about a fourth of the fuel it launched with. This economy leaves enough fuel to continue operating the mission for decades. That’s good news to mission scientists who are eager to continue studying magnetic reconnection with MMS.
“We have thousands of magnetic reconnection events on the day side, but far fewer on the nightside,” Burch said. “But over the next three years we’ll be in a prime location to finish investigating nightside reconnection.”
By Mara Johnson-Groh
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact: Sarah Frazier
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NASA-ISRO Mission Will Map Farmland From Planting to Harvest
Data from the NISAR satellite will be used to map crop growth, track plant health, and monitor soil moisture — offering detailed, timely information for decision making.
When it launches this year, the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite will provide a powerful data stream that could help farmers in the U.S. and around the world. This new Earth mission by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation will help monitor the growth of crops from planting to harvest, generating crucial insights on how to time plantings, adjust irrigation schedules, and, ultimately, make the most of another precious resource: time.
Using synthetic aperture radar, NISAR will discern the physical characteristics of crops, as well as the moisture content of the plants and the soil they grow in. The mission will have the resolution to see small plots of farmland, but a potentially more meaningful benefit will come from its broad, frequent coverage of agricultural regions.
The satellite will image nearly all of Earth’s land twice every 12 days and will be able to resolve plots down to 30 feet (10 meters) wide. The cadence and resolution could allow users to zoom in to observe week-to-week changes on small farms or zoom out to monitor thousands of farms for broader trends. Such big-picture perspective will be useful for authorities managing crops or setting farm policy.
Tapping NISAR data, decision-makers could, for example, estimate when rice seedlings were planted across a region and track their height and blooming through the season while also monitoring the wetness of the plants and paddies over time. An unhealthy crop or drier paddies may signal the need to shift management strategies.
NISAR will provide maps of croplands on a global basis every two weeks. Observations will be uninterrupted by weather and provide up-to-date information on the large-scale trends that affect international food security. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech“It’s all about resource planning and optimizing, and timing is very important when it comes to crops: When is the best time to plant? When is the best time to irrigate? That is the whole game here,” said Narendra Das, a NISAR science team member and agricultural engineering researcher at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Mapping CropsNISAR is set to launch this year from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast. Once in operation, it will produce about 80 terabytes of data products per day for researchers and users across numerous areas, including agriculture.
Satellites have been used for large-scale crop monitoring for decades. Because microwaves pass through clouds, radar can be more effective at observing crops during rainy seasons than other technologies such as thermal and optical imaging. The NISAR satellite will be the first radar satellite to employ two frequencies, L- and S-band, which will enable it to observe a broader range of surface features than a single instrument working at one frequency.
Microwaves from the mission’s radars will be able to penetrate the canopies of crops such as corn, rice, and wheat, then bounce off the plant stalks, soil, or water below, and then back to the sensor. This data will enable users to estimate the mass of the plant matter (biomass) that’s aboveground in an area. By interpreting the data over time and pairing it with optical imagery, users will be able to distinguish crop types based on growth patterns.
Data gathered in 2017 by the European Sentinel-1 SAR satellite program shows changes to croplands in the region southeast of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Colors in the fields indicate various crops in different parts of their growth and harvest cycles. NISAR will gather similar data in L- and S-band radar frequencies.ESA; processing and visualization by Earth Big Data LLCAdditionally, NISAR’s radars will measure how the polarization, or vertical and horizontal orientation of signals, changes after they bounce back to the satellite from the surface. This will enable a technique called polarimetry that, when applied to the data, will help identify crops and estimate crop production with better accuracy.
“Another superpower of NISAR is that when its measurements are integrated with traditional satellite observations, especially vegetation health indexes, it will significantly enhance crop information,” added Brad Doorn, who oversees NASA’s water resources and agriculture research program.
The NISAR satellite’s high-resolution data on which crops are present and how well they are growing could feed into agricultural productivity forecasts.
“The government of India — or any government in the world — wants to know the crop acreage and the production estimates in a very precise way,” said Bimal Kumar Bhattacharya, the agricultural applications lead at ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad. “The high-repeat time-series data of NISAR will be very, very helpful.”
Tracking Soil MoistureThe NISAR satellite can also help farmers gauge the water content in soil and vegetation. In general, wetter soils tend to return more signals and show up brighter in radar imagery than drier soils. There is a similar relationship with plant moisture.
A collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation, NISAR will use synthetic aperture radar to offer insights into change in Earth’s ecosystems, including its agricultural lands. The spacecraft, depicted here in an artist’s concept, will launch from India.NASA/JPL-CaltechThese capabilities mean that NISAR can estimate the water content of crops over a growing season to help determine if they are water-stressed, and it can use signals that have scattered back from the ground to estimate soil moisture.
The soil moisture data could potentially inform agriculture and water managers about how croplands respond to heat waves or droughts, as well as how quickly they absorb water and then dry out following rain — information that could support irrigation planning.
“Resource managers thinking about food security and where resources need to go are going to be able to use this sort of data to have a holistic view of their whole region,” said Rowena Lohman, an Earth sciences researcher at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and soil moisture lead on the NISAR science team.
More About NISARThe NISAR satellite is a joint collaboration between NASA and ISRO and marks the first time the two agencies have cooperated on flight hardware for an Earth-observing mission. Managed by Caltech, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the U.S. component of the project and provided the L-band SAR. NASA JPL also provided the radar reflector antenna, the deployable boom, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and payload data subsystem. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the Near Space Network, which will receive NISAR’s L-band data.
The ISRO Space Applications Centre is providing the mission’s S-band SAR. The U R Rao Satellite Centre provided the spacecraft bus. The launch vehicle is from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, launch services are through Satish Dhawan Space Centre, and satellite mission operations are by the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network. The National Remote Sensing Centre is responsible for S-band data reception, operational products generation, and dissemination.
To learn more about NISAR, visit:
How NISAR Will See Earth What Sets NISAR Apart From Other Earth Satellites News Media ContactsAndrew Wang / Jane J. Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Share Details Last Updated Mar 12, 2025 Related Terms Explore More 5 min read NASA’s Record-Shattering, Theory-Breaking MMS Mission Turns 10Since its launch on March 12, 2015, NASA’s MMS, or Magnetospheric Multiscale, mission has been…
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Sols 4477-4478: Bumping Back to Business
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Sols 4477-4478: Bumping Back to Business NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Right Navigation Camera on March 10, 2025 — sol 4476, or Martian day 4,476 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 04:15:44 UTC. NASA/JPL-CaltechWritten by Sharon Wilson Purdy, Planetary Geologist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Earth planning date: Monday, March 10, 2025
The Curiosity rover is winding between the spectacular Gould mesa and Texoli butte through beautifully layered terrain. The end-of-drive target from last week’s plan was a rock with a knobby/bumpy texture that appears quite different from the typical surrounding bedrock. While this interesting rock was in our workspace today, we ended up being just a touch too close to do contact science. As a result, the science team decided to “bump back” (e.g., drive backwards) to get the rover in an ideal position to analyze and characterize this rock on Wednesday.
In the middle of the rover’s workspace today there was a large patch of soil and sand that MAHLI and APXS teamed up to analyze at a target named “Angeles Crest.” Nearby, Mastcam imaged troughs (depressions) along the axis of the sand ridge to understand how they formed. Mastcam had several other targets in the plan that imaged the workspace and surroundings including “Potrero John,” the knobby rock in the workspace, a rock with similar nodular textures in the distance named “Modjeska Peak,” and a light tan rock with a dome-like structure in the vicinity of “Humber Park.”
ChemCam selected a slab of bedrock and loose (“float”) rock in the workspace to characterize their geochemistry with the LIBS instrument at “Millard Canyon” and “Cajon Pass,” respectively. Off in the distance, the science team selected the face of Gould mesa and upper Texoli butte for ChemCam long distance RMI imaging to get a closer look at the rocks, fractures, and layering.
The environmental theme group scheduled several activities to look at clouds, document the atmospheric opacity, and measure the optical depth of the atmosphere and constrain aerosol scattering properties. We have lots of exciting data in hand and more on the road ahead!
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NASA Invites Media to Annual FIRST Robotics Rocket City Competition
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)The Rocket City Regional – Alabama’s annual For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Regional Competition – is scheduled for Friday, March 14, through Saturday, March 15, at the Von Braun Center South Hall in Huntsville, Alabama.
FIRST Robotics is a global robotics competition for students in grades 9-12. Teams are challenged to raise funds, design a team brand, hone teamwork skills, and build and program industrial-sized robots to play a difficult field game against competitors.
Students from RAD Robotics Team 7111 – a FIRST Robotics team from Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – make adjustments to their robot during the 2024 Rocket City Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in Huntsville.District and regional competitions – such as the Rocket City Regional – are held across the country during March and April, providing teams a chance to qualify for the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship events held in mid-April in Houston.
Hundreds of high school students from 44 teams from 10 states and 2 countries will compete in a new robotics game called, “REEFSCAPE.”
This event is free and open to the public. Opening ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m. CDT followed by qualification matches on March 14 and March 15. The Friday awards ceremony will begin at 5:45 p.m., while the Saturday awards ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m.
NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams and support for FIRST Robotics competitions to address the critical national shortage of students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. The Rocket City Regional Competition is supported by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.
News media interested in covering this event should respond no later than 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 13 by contacting Taylor Goodwin at 256-544-0034 or taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov.
Learn more about the Rocket City Regional event:
https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=72593
Find more information about Marshall’s support for education programs:
https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/marshall-stem-engagement
Taylor Goodwin
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Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
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Sun Rises on Crew-10 at Launch Pad
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Dragon spacecraft on top is seen during sunrise on the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, ahead of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 launch.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy. Once aboard the International Space Station, the Crew-10 members will conduct new scientific research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and benefit humanity on Earth. The crew is scheduled to conduct material flammability tests for future spacecraft designs, engage with students via ham radio and use its existing hardware to test a backup lunar navigation solution, and participate in an integrated study to better understand physiological and psychological changes to the human body to provide valuable insights for future deep space missions.
Watch the launch live on NASA+. Coverage begins at 3:45 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2025, with launch scheduled for 7:48 p.m. EDT.
Image credit: SpaceX
NASA Glenn Accepts Aviation Award for “NEAT” Facility
Each year, Aviation Week (AW) Network recognizes a limited number of innovators who achieve extraordinary accomplishments in the global aerospace arena with AW’s prestigious Laureate Award. These innovators represent the values and vision of the global aerospace community and change the way people work and move through the world.
On March 6, NASA’s Glenn Research Center accepted an AW Laureate Award in commercial aviation for NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) located at NASA Glenn’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. NEAT allows government, industry, and academia to collaborate and conduct testing of high-powered electric powertrains, which generate power and propel aircraft forward. The goal is to transform commercial flight by creating more sustainable, fuel-efficient commercial aircraft.
NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) is located at NASA’s Glenn Research Center at Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.Credit: NASA/Bridget CaswellNEAT enables ground testing of cutting-edge systems prior to experimental flight testing. As a result, researchers can troubleshoot issues that only occur at altitude and improve them earlier in the design cycle, which both accelerates the path to flight and makes it safer.
A number of “firsts” have been accomplished in the electric aircraft testbed.
- NASA and GE Aerospace completed the first successful ground tests of a high-power hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system at simulated altitude in 2022.
- A megawatt-class electric machine was tested at NEAT by a university team led by The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin, under NASA’s University Leadership Initiative.
- Under the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, magniX tested its high-power megawatt-class powertrain with a goal to achieve approximately 5% reduced fuel use.
- Systems tested at NEAT from General Electric and magniX will be flown on modified passenger aircraft currently being reconfigured for flight testing.
NASA Glenn Experts Join Law College to Talk Human Spaceflight
NASA Glenn Research Center’s Director Dr. Jimmy Kenyon and Chief Counsel Callista Puchmeyer participated in a local symposium that addressed the operational and legal challenges of human spaceflight. The one-day conference was held at the Cleveland State University (CSU) College of Law on Feb.13.
Kenyon gave a keynote that provided an overview of NASA Glenn’s areas of expertise and how the center supports the agency’s missions and programs. He also talked about the role of growing commercial partnerships at NASA.
Panelists, left to right: Col. (Ret.) Joseph Zeis, senior advisor for Aerospace and Defense, Office of the Governor of Ohio; Callista Puchmeyer, chief counsel, NASA’s Glenn Research Center; and Jon. P. Yormick, international business and trade attorney, Yormick Law, answer questions on operational and legal challenges of human spaceflight at a Cleveland State University College of Law symposium. Credit: NASA/Susan ValerianPuchmeyer, a graduate of CSU’s College of Law and recent inductee into its Hall of Fame, participated in a panel about Northeast Ohio’s aerospace industry and the legal aspects of commercial partnerships.
Additionally, human spaceflight experts from academia, law, and science spoke throughout the day on topics ranging from the health and training of astronauts to the special law of space stations. Romanian astronaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu joined remotely to provide a personal perspective.
Return to Newsletter Explore More 2 min read NASA Glenn Accepts Aviation Award for “NEAT” Facility Article 16 hours ago 2 min read NASA Releases its Spinoff 2025 Publication Article 16 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Welcomes Spring 2025 Interns Article 16 hours agoNASA Releases its Spinoff 2025 Publication
The work NASA conducts in space leads to ongoing innovations benefiting people on Earth. Some of these latest technologies, which have been successfully transferred from NASA to the commercial sector, are featured in the latest edition of NASA’s Spinoff 2025 publication now available online.
The publication features more than 40 commercial infusions of NASA technologies, including research originated at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
Parallel Flight Technologies’ Firefly aircraft is designed to run for 100 minutes while fully loaded, allowing the aircraft to perform agricultural surveys as well as assist in the aftermath of natural disasters. Credit: Parallel Flight Technologies Inc.Bringing Hybrid Power to the Rescue
A NASA-funded hybrid power system makes drones more capable in disasters.
With Small Business Innovation Research funding from NASA Glenn, Parallel Flight Technologies of La Selva Beach, California, was able to test its hybrid propulsion technology, enabling longer-running, remotely piloted aircraft for use in agricultural and rescue applications. See the full Spinoff article for more information.
EnerVenue Inc. brought down the cost of nickel-hydrogen technology and encased it in safe, robust vessels, like the battery pictured here. These batteries store renewable energy in a wide range of terrestrial situations. Credit: EnerVenue Inc.Hubble Battery Tech Holds Power on Earth
Nickel-hydrogen technology is safe, durable, and long-lasting – and now it’s affordable, too.
Nickel-hydrogen batteries store renewable energy for power plants, businesses, and homes, thanks to innovations from Fremont, California-based EnerVenue, informed by papers published by NASA Glenn about the technology’s performance on the Hubble Space Telescope, International Space Station, and more. See the full Spinoff article for more information.
Spinoff 2025 also features 20 technologies available for licensing with the potential for commercialization. Check out the Spinoffs of Tomorrow section to learn more.
Return to Newsletter Explore More 2 min read NASA Glenn Accepts Aviation Award for “NEAT” Facility Article 16 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Experts Join Law College to Talk Human Spaceflight Article 16 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Welcomes Spring 2025 Interns Article 16 hours agoNASA Glenn Welcomes Spring 2025 Interns
NASA’s Glenn Research Center is hosting 45 spring interns at its Cleveland and Sandusky, Ohio, campuses through May 16. This group represents 43 universities across the country, spanning from Arizona to Ohio to Texas.
Through NASA’s internship programs, students gain practical experience while working side-by-side with scientists, engineers, and individuals from many other professions. The interns are contributing to a broad range of innovative projects, such as AI-driven aerospace design, electrified aircraft visualization, spaceflight material flammability, superconducting coil testing, fission surface power for sustained lunar and Martian exploration, and more.
Their research supports NASA’s mission in advancing aeronautics, space technology, and scientific discovery. Several students are returning for repeat internships, reinforcing NASA Glenn’s role as a leader in STEM workforce development.
Return to Newsletter Explore More 2 min read NASA Glenn Accepts Aviation Award for “NEAT” Facility Article 16 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Experts Join Law College to Talk Human Spaceflight Article 16 hours ago 2 min read NASA Releases its Spinoff 2025 Publication Article 16 hours agoNASA Launches Missions to Study Sun, Universe’s Beginning
NASA’s newest astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx, is on its way to study the origins of our universe and the history of galaxies, and to search for the ingredients of life in our galaxy. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx lifted off at 8:10 p.m. PDT on March 11 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Riding with SPHEREx aboard the Falcon 9 were four small satellites that make up the agency’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which will study how the Sun’s outer atmosphere becomes the solar wind.
“Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and sending both SPHEREx and PUNCH up on a single rocket doubles the opportunities to do incredible science in space,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Congratulations to both mission teams as they explore the cosmos from far-out galaxies to our neighborhood star. I am excited to see the data returned in the years to come.”
Ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages SPHEREx, established communications with the space observatory at 9:31 p.m. PDT. The observatory will begin its two-year prime mission after a roughly one-month checkout period, during which engineers and scientists will make sure the spacecraft is working properly.
“The fact our amazing SPHEREx team kept this mission on track even as the Southern California wildfires swept through our community is a testament to their remarkable commitment to deepening humanity’s understanding of our universe,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL. “We now eagerly await the scientific breakthroughs from SPHEREx’s all-sky survey — including insights into how the universe began and where the ingredients of life reside.”
The PUNCH satellites successfully separated about 53 minutes after launch, and ground controllers have established communication with all four PUNCH spacecraft. Now, PUNCH begins a 90-day commissioning period where the four satellites will enter the correct orbital formation, and the instruments will be calibrated as a single “virtual instrument” before the scientists start to analyze images of the solar wind.
The two missions are designed to operate in a low Earth, Sun-synchronous orbit over the day-night line (also known as the terminator) so the Sun always remains in the same position relative to the spacecraft. This is essential for SPHEREx to keep its telescope shielded from the Sun’s light and heat (both would inhibit its observations) and for PUNCH to have a clear view in all directions around the Sun.
To achieve its wide-ranging science goals, SPHEREx will create a 3D map of the entire celestial sky every six months, providing a wide perspective to complement the work of space telescopes that observe smaller sections of the sky in more detail, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope.
The mission will use a technique called spectroscopy to measure the distance to 450 million galaxies in the nearby universe. Their large-scale distribution was subtly influenced by an event that took place almost 14 billion years ago known as inflation, which caused the universe to expand in size a trillion-trillionfold in a fraction of a second after the big bang. The mission also will measure the total collective glow of all the galaxies in the universe, providing new insights about how galaxies have formed and evolved over cosmic time.
Spectroscopy also can reveal the composition of cosmic objects, and SPHEREx will survey our home galaxy for hidden reservoirs of frozen water ice and other molecules, like carbon dioxide, that are essential to life as we know it.
“Questions like ‘How did we get here?’ and ‘Are we alone?’ have been asked by humans for all of history,” said James Fanson, SPHEREx project manager at JPL. “I think it’s incredible that we are alive at a time when we have the scientific tools to actually start to answer them.”
NASA’s PUNCH will make global, 3D observations of the inner solar system and the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, to learn how its mass and energy become the solar wind, a stream of charged particles blowing outward from the Sun in all directions. The mission will explore the formation and evolution of space weather events such as coronal mass ejections, which can create storms of energetic particle radiation that can endanger spacecraft and astronauts.
“The space between planets is not an empty void. It’s full of turbulent solar wind that washes over Earth,” said Craig DeForest, the mission’s principal investigator, at the Southwest Research Institute. “The PUNCH mission is designed to answer basic questions about how stars like our Sun produce stellar winds, and how they give rise to dangerous space weather events right here on Earth.”
More About SPHEREx, PUNCH
The SPHEREx mission is managed by NASA JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace) built the telescope and the spacecraft bus. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the U.S., two in South Korea, and one in Taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. The mission’s principal investigator is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment. The SPHEREx dataset will be publicly available at the NASA-IPAC Infrared Science Archive.
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) leads the PUNCH mission and built the four spacecraft and Wide Field Imager instruments at its headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. The Narrow Field Imager instrument was built by the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. The mission is operated from SwRI’s offices in Boulder, Colorado, and is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based out of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, provided the launch service for SPHEREx and PUNCH.
For more about NASA’s science missions, visit:
-end-
Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov
Calla Cofield – SPHEREx
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
Sarah Frazier – PUNCH
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
202-853-7191
sarah.frazier@nasa.gov
Sols 4475-4476: Even the Best-Laid Plans
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Sols 4475-4476: Even the Best-Laid Plans NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of “Gould Mesa,” named for a hill near NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, using its Right Navigation Camera on March 6, 2025 — sol 4472, or Martian day 4,472 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 01:37:17 UTC. NASA/JPL-CaltechWritten by Deborah Padgett, OPGS Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Earth planning date: Friday, March 7, 2025
In Curiosity’s last plan, the team decided to drive toward a very interesting nodular rock. The rover team hoped to do a detailed study of its surface texture over the weekend. However, Curiosity did not receive its expected Friday morning downlink of images taken after its drive. The MSL team did receive a tiny bit of data confirming that Curiosity’s drive finished as expected. Unfortunately, without images to determine exactly where Curiosity was located relative to its intended destination, the team was unable to do any instrument pointing at nearby objects, known as “targeted” observations. However, the rover team showed its resilience by filling the weekend plan with a full slate of fascinating remote observations of the terrain and sky around Curiosity’s current perch, high in the canyons of Mount Sharp. Our science and instrument teams always keep a list of backup observations close at hand — frequently those taking too much time to fit in a typical sol plan — in case they get an unexpected opportunity to use them!
On sol 4475, Curiosity will start its first science block midday with two back-to-back dust-devil surveys with Navcam. These searches for Martian whirlwinds will be followed by a measurement of atmospheric dust with Mastcam. Mastcam will then do its first large panorama image of the plan, an 11×3 mosaic starboard of the rover to document bedrock and regolith in an area with a dark band of material seen from orbit. This long observation will be followed by an AEGIS activity, using Navcam to find targets for ChemCam’s laser spectrograph. Curiosity will then repeat its post-drive imaging at high quality, hopefully to be received at JPL before Monday’s planning day. In the evening, APXS will do atmospheric composition studies for several hours.
The next day will be a “soliday,” without any observations. Early in the morning of sol 4476, Mastcam will take its second large panorama, which will be a fantastic 37×4 mosaic of sunrise on the slopes of Gould Mesa (see image). In the afternoon, there will be a Mastcam dust measurement, ChemCam calibration observation, ChemCam passive sky, and two more dust-devil surveys. The next morning, there will be a set of Navcam cloud movies, a dust measurement, and sky phase function observations to support the Mars aphelion cloud-belt campaign. On sol 4477, we will use the post-drive imaging taken over the weekend to plan contact science, then drive away from this location on sol 4478, continuing Curiosity’s journey toward the mysterious boxwork features to the west.
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NASA Continues BioNutrients Space-Fermented Food Research
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams displays a set of BioNutrients production packs during an experiment aboard the International Space Station. The experiment uses engineered yeast to produce nutrients and vitamins to support future astronaut health.NASANASA’s BioNutrients series of experiments is testing ways to use microorganisms to make nutrients that will be needed for human health during future long-duration deep space exploration missions. Some vital nutrients lack the shelf-life needed to span multi-year human missions, such as a mission to Mars, and may need to be produced in space to support astronaut health. To meet this need, the BioNutrients project uses a biomanufacturing approach similar to making familiar fermented foods, such as yogurt. But these foods also will include specific types and amounts of nutrients that crew will be able to consume in the future.
The first experiment in the series, BioNutrients-1, set out to assess the five-year stability and performance of a hand-held system – called a production pack – that uses an engineered microorganism, yeast, to manufacture fresh vitamins on-demand and in space. The BioNutrients-1 experiments began after multiple sets of production packs launched to the station in 2019. This collection included spare production packs as backups to be used in case an experiment needs to be re-run during the five-year study. The planned experiments concluded in January 2024 spare production packs still remaining aboard the orbiting lab and in the BioNutrients lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where the ground team runs experiments in parallel to the crew operations.
Leaders at NASA’s International Space Station and Game Changing Development programs worked to coordinate the crew time needed to perform an additional BioNutrients-2 experiment using the spare packs. This extended the study’s timeline to almost six years in orbit, allowing valuable crew observations and data from the additional experiment run to be applied to a follow-on experiment, BioNutrients-3, which completed its analog astronaut experiment in April 2024, and is planned to launch to the station this year. Astronauts on the space station will freeze the sample and eventually it will be returned to Earth for analysis to see how much yeast grew and how much nutrient the experiment produced. This will help us understand how the shelf stability of the packets.
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Human System Risk Board
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Risks ConceptRisk is inherent in human spaceflight. However, specific risks can and should be understood, managed, and mitigated to reduce threats posed to astronauts. Risk management in the context of human spaceflight can be viewed as a trade-based system. The relevant evidence in life sciences, medicine, and engineering is tracked and evaluated to identify ways to minimize overall risk to the astronauts and to ensure mission success. The Human System Risk Board (HSRB) manages the process by which scientific evidence is utilized to establish and reassess the postures of the various risks to the Human System during all of the various types of existing or anticipated crewed missions. The HSRB operates as part of the Health and Medical Technical Authority of the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer of NASA via the JSC Chief Medical Officer.
The HSRB approaches to human system risks is analogous to the approach the engineering profession takes with its Failure Mode and Effects Analysis in that a process is utilized to identify and address potential problems, or failures to reduce their likelihood and severity. In the context of risks to the human system, the HSRB considers eight missions which different in their destinations and durations (known as Design Reference Missions [DRM]) to further refine the context of the risks. With each DRM a likelihood and consequence are assigned to each risk which is adjusted scientific evidence is accumulated and understanding of the risk is enhanced, and mitigations become available or are advanced.
Human System RisksThis framework enables the principles of Continuous Risk Management and Risk Informed Decision Making (RIDM) to be applied in an ongoing fashion to the challenges posed by Human System Risks. Using this framework consistently across the 29 risks allows management to see where risks need additional research or technology development to be mitigated or monitored and for the identification of new risks and concerns. Further information on the implementation of the risk management process can be found in the following documents:
- Human System Risk Management Plan – JSC-66705
- NASA Health and Medical Technical Authority (HMTA) Implementation – NPR 7120.11A
- NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Requirements – NPR 7120.5
The HSRB Risk Management Office governs the execution of the Human System Risk management process in support of the HSRB. It is led by the HSRB Chair, who is also referred to as the Risk Manager.
Risk Custodian TeamsAlong with the Human System Risk Manager, a team of risk custodians (a researcher, an operational researcher or physician, and an epidemiologist, who each have specific expertise) works together to understand and synthesize scientific and operational evidence in the context of spaceflight, identify and evaluate metrics for each risk in order to communicate the risk posture to the agency.
Directed Acyclic Graphs SummaryThe HSRB uses Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAG), a type of causal diagramming, as visual tools to create a shared understanding of the risks, improve communication among those stakeholders, and enable the creation of a composite risk network that is vetted by members of the NASA community and configuration managed (Antonsen et al., NASA/TM– 20220006812). The knowledge captured is the Human Health and Performance community’s knowledge about the causal flow of a human system risk, and the relationships that exist between the contributing factors to that risk.
DAGs are:
- Intended to improve communication between:
- Managers and subject matter experts who need to discuss human system risks
- Subject matter experts in different disciplines where human system risks interact with one another in a potentially cumulative fashion
- Visual representations of known or suspected relationships
- Directed – the relationship flows in one direction between any two nodes
- Acyclic – cycles in the graph are not allowed
At NASA, the Human System Risks have historically been conceptualized as deriving from five Hazards present in the spaceflight environment. These are: altered gravity, isolation and confinement, radiation, a hostile closed environment, and distance from Earth. These Hazards are aspects of the spaceflight environment that are encountered when someone is launched into space and therefore are the starting point for causal diagramming of spaceflight-related risk issues for the HSRB.
These Hazards are often interpreted in relation to physiologic changes that occur in humans as a result of the exposure; however, interaction between human crew (behavioral health and performance), which may be degraded due to the spaceflight environment – and the vehicle and mission systems that the crew must operate – can also be influenced by these Hazards.
Each Human System Risk DAG is intended to show the causal flow of risk from Hazards to Mission Level Outcomes. As such, the structure of each DAG starts with at least one Hazard and ends with at least one of the pre-defined Mission Level Outcomes. In between are the nodes and edges of the causal flow diagrams that are relevant to the Risk under consideration. These are called ‘contributing factors’ in the HSRB terminology, and include countermeasures, medical conditions, and other Human System Risks. A graph data structure is composed of a set of vertices (nodes), and a set of edges (links). Each edge represents a relationship between two nodes. There can be two types of relationships between nodes: directed and undirected. For example, if an edge exists between two nodes A and B and the edge is undirected, it is represented as A–B, (no arrow). If the edge were directed, for example from A to B, then this is represented with an arrow (A->B). Each directed arrow connecting one node to another on a DAG indicates a claim of causality. A directed graph can potentially contain a cycle, meaning that, from a specific node, there exists a path that would eventually return to that node. A directed graph that has no cycles is known as acyclic. Thus, a graph with directed links and no cycles is a DAG. DAGs are a type of network diagram that represent causality in a visual format.
DAGs are updated with the regular Human System Risk updates generally every 1-2 years. Approved DAGs can be found in the NASA/TP 20220015709 below or broken down under each Human System Risk.
Documents- Directed Acyclic Graph Guidance Documentation – NASA/TM 20220006812
- Directed Acyclic Graphs: A Tool for Understanding the NASA Human Spaceflight System Risks – NASA/TP 20220015709
system risk in spaceflight
Apr 22, 2024
PDF (3.09 MB)
npj Microgravity –Levels of evidence for human system risk
evaluation
Apr 22, 2024
PDF (2.47 MB)
npj Microgravity –Updates to the NASA human system risk management process
for space exploration
Apr 22, 2024
PDF (2.24 MB)
Points of ContactMary Van Baalen
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Risk to Vehicle Crew Egress Capability and Task Performance as Applied to Earth and Extraterrestrial Landings
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley is helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he and NASA astronaut Robert Behnken landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. The Demo-2 test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program was the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth onboard a commercially built and operated spacecraft. Behnken and Hurley returned after spending 64 days in space. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)NASANew spacecraft that will transport crews to the Lunar and Martian surfaces and return them to Earth may have diverse landing modalities which will function in different landing environments. Additionally, the crew may be deconditioned on landing, impacting their ability to independently egress the vehicles, perform post-landing tasks in a timely manner, and perform surface EVAs post-landing -including those required for emergencies.
Boeing and NASA teams work around Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system’s capabilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Directed Acyclic Graph Files+ DAG File Information (HSRB Home Page)
+ Crew Egress Risk DAG and Narrative (PDF)
+ Crew Egress Risk DAG Code (TXT)
Human System Risks Share Details Last Updated Mar 11, 2025 EditorRobert E. LewisLocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms Explore More 1 min read Risk of Toxic Substance Exposure Article 19 hours ago 1 min read Risk of Urinary Retention Article 19 hours ago 1 min read Risk to Crew Health Due to Electrical Shock (Electrical Shock Risk) Article 19 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASAHumans In Space
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The NASA DC-8 Retires: Reflections on its Contributions to Earth System Science
13 min read
The NASA DC-8 Retires: Reflections on its Contributions to Earth System ScienceIntroduction
Since 1987, a highly modified McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft has been a workhorse in NASA’s Airborne Science Program (ASP)—see Photo 1. The aircraft, located at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in California, flew countless missions as a science laboratory, producing science data that supports projects serving the world’s scientific community, particularly the NASA Earth science community. NASA recently decided to retire the venerable DC-8 aircraft, which made its last science flight in April 2024. The DC-8 is being replaced with a similarly refurbished Boeing 777 aircraft, which will be even more capable than the DC-8.
Photo 1. NASA’s DC-8 flying laboratory flew Earth science missions for NASA’s. Airborne Science Program (ASP) from 1987–2024. The versatile aircraft was used to conduct a variety of research experiments that spanned all seven continents. Photo credit: Lori Losey [NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC)]More information is available about the full history of ASP, its primary objectives, and its many achievements in an archived article: see “Flying in the ‘Gap’ Between Earth and Space: NASA’s Airborne Science Program” [The Earth Observer, September–October 2020, 32:5, 4–14].
Workshop Overview
The NASA History Office and NASA Earth Science Division cohosted a workshop, titled “Contributions of the DC-8 to Earth System Science at NASA,” on October 24–25, 2024 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters (HQ) Building in Washington, DC – see Photo 2.
The agenda included not just the DC-8’s contributions to Earth Science at NASA, but also its role supporting the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and work in space science. Many DC-8 veterans – including several who are now retired – attended the event in person or online. The program consisted of six panels and roundtables, each calling attention to a unique aspect of the DC-8 story.
Photo 2. Group photo of the in person and remote participants of the workshop on “Contributions of the DC-8 to Earth System Science at NASA,” which took place October 24–25, 2024 at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters (HQ) Building in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Rafael Luis Méndez Peña [NASA’s Ames Research Center, Earth Science Program Office]The event featured 38 individuals (speakers, panelists, and moderators) from NASA HQ, five NASA centers, eight universities, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In addition, Spanish filmmaker Rafael Luis Méndez Peña debuted a trailer for his documentary film, NASA-817, on October 24 and took photographs during the workshop. The ??? agenda a workshop recording ???, and other related materials are available through the NASA History Office.
The Tale of the NASA DC-8
The article follows the outline of the workshop that places the DC-8 in the context of the overall history of NASA aircraft observations, science campaigns, community, and international collaboration, education and outreach activities.
A History in Context: the DC-8 and NASA’s Airborne Science Program
NASA’s involvement in airborne science extends to the agency’s inception. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 states that NASA’s first objective shall be “the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space.” Subsequent legislation expanded NASA’s role in atmospheric and Earth system science. To fulfill this objective, NASA maintains a fleet of airborne platforms through ASP – see Figure –to study the environment, develop new technologies, verify satellite data, and monitor space vehicle activity.
Figure. The DC-8 was but one aircraft is NASA’s sizeable Airborne Science Fleet – which is maintained and operated by ASP. Note that in addition to a variety of piloted aircraft operating at different altitudes shown in this drawing, NASA also operates uncrewed aircraft systems and even uses kites to conduct Earth observations. Figure credit: NASA Science Suborbital Platforms, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Science Support OfficeNASA operated two large flying laboratories prior to the DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory. Both aircraft were converted Convair (CV) 990s. Regrettably, both aircraft succumbed to catastrophic accidents. The first, known as Galileo, collided with a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion near Moffett Field, CA, in April 1973, killing 11 NASA personnel. Its replacement, Galileo II, crashed on takeoff at March Air Force Base in July 1985. While there were no fatalities in the second accident, the ensuing fire consumed the aircraft and its instruments. The loss of Galileo II left a gaping hole in NASA’s ability to conduct essential scientific and engineering research.
In January 1986, after months of bureaucratic scrambling, NASA finalized the purchase of former commercial airliner (DC-8-72) for $24 million, which included costs to modify the aircraft to carry a science payload and crew. The modified DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory—shown in Photo 2— arrived at NASA Ames Research Center during the Summer of 1987.
Overview Presentations on Airborne Science
Jack Kaye [NASA Headquarters—Associate Director for Research of the Earth Science Division] gave the meeting’s opening remarks, where he placed the DC-8’s activities in a larger perspective. He noted that one of the features that makes airborne science so unique at NASA is the combination of platforms, sensors, systems, people, and opportunities. The DC-8 was able to carry a large number of people as well as instruments to carry out long-range operations under diverse conditions.
“[The DC-8 offered] a really versatile, flexible platform that’s allowed for lots of science,” said Kaye.
Later in the meeting, Karen St. Germain [NASA Headquarters—Director of the Earth Science Division] built upon Kaye’s comments. She noted that while NASA’s satellite missions receive most of the public’s attention, airborne science is an essential part of the NASA mission.
“This is the grassroots of science,” she stressed. “It’s where a lot of the great ideas are born. It’s where a lot of the fledgling sensor technologies are demonstrated.”
First Flight for the DC-8
NASA routinely conducts field campaigns – where ground observations are timed and coordinated with aircraft flights (often at more than one altitude) and with satellite overpasses to gain a comprehensive (multilayered, multiscale) picture of the atmosphere over a certain area. A more detailed account of two NASA field campaigns from the 1980s and 1990s, and their follow-up missions, is available in an archived article: see “Reflections on FIFE and BOREAS: Historical Perspective and Meeting Summary” [The Earth Observer, January–February 2017, 29:1, 6–23]. The article illustrates scaled observations as they were conducted during FIFE and BOREAS.
Researchers first used the DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory on a high-profile interagency field campaign – Antarctic Airborne Ozone Expedition (AAOE), the first airborne experiment to study the chemistry and dynamics of the Antarctic ozone hole. The scientific data collected during AAOE produced unequivocable evidence that human-made chemicals were involved in the destruction of ozone over the Antarctic. This data served as a major impetus toward the enactment of amendments to the Montreal Protocol, which banned the manufacture of chlorofluorocarbons.
Estelle Condon [NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC), emeritus] was a program manager for AAOE. During the meeting, she shared her memories of the hectic days leading up to the DC-8’s first mission.
“There was an enormous task in front of [the aircraft team] – just a huge task – to get all the relay racks, all the wiring, all the ports for the windows designed and built so that when the scientists finally came, all that instrumentation could actually be put on the aircraft,” said Condon. She added that the ARC staff worked day and night and every weekend to make the plane ready.
“It’s a miracle that they were able to put everything together and get it to the tip of South America in time for the mission,” she said.
Other Noteworthy Field Campaigns Involving the DC-8
The DC-8 would go on to be used in many other field campaigns throughout its 37-year history
and was central to several of NASA’s research disciplines. For example, Michael Kurylo [NASA Headquarters—Atmospheric Composition Program Scientist] was the manager of NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Program, where he developed, promoted, and implemented an extramural research program in stratospheric and upper tropospheric composition and directed its advanced planning at a national and international level. Kurylo summarized the DC-8’s many flights to study stratospheric chemistry beyond the AAOE missions.
Kurylo also discussed the DC-8’s role in tropospheric chemistry investigations, especially through the many field campaigns that were conducted as part of the Global Troposphere Experiment (GTE). He also touched on the culture of NASA airborne science and the dynamic that existed between scientists and those who operated and maintained the aircraft. “The scientists were always referred to [by NASA pilots and groundcrew] as ‘coneheads’…. Too much college, not enough high school,” Kurylo explained. But he and his colleagues have such fond memories of their time spent working together onboard the DC-8.
James Crawford [NASA’s Langley Research Center], a project scientist for many of the GTE campaigns, explained that from 1983–2001 16 GTE aircraft-based missions, each with its own name and location, took place. Each mission collected a rich set of data records of atmospheric observations and on many occasions the data were used as baselines for subsequent campaigns. The DC-8 was one of several NASA aircraft involved, the others being the Corvair-990, Electra, and P-3B.
Joshua Schwarz [NOAA’s Chemical Sciencc Laboratory] discussed the airplane’s role in global atmospheric monitoring. He recall thinking, after his first experience with the DC-8 that this flying airborne laboratory, “…was going to make things possible that wouldn’t otherwise be possible,” Schwarz concluded after his first encounter with the DC-8.
Other workshop participants went on to describe how – for nearly four decades – investigators used data collected by instruments on the DC-8 to conduct research and write papers on important scientific and engineering topics.
The People Behind the Aircraft: The DC-8 Community
The DC-8 was a large and durable aircraft capable of long-range flights, which made it ideal for conducting scientific research. Around these research efforts a strong community emerged. Over three decades, the DC-8 accommodated many investigators from NASA, interagency offices, U.S. universities, and international organizations on extended global missions. Agency officials also moved the DC-8 base of operations several times between 1986 and 2024, thereby demanding tremendous cross-center cooperation.
“Looking around the room, it’s clear that what brought us together [for the workshop] is more than just an aircraft,” said Nickelle Reid [NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center]. “It’s been a shared commitment, decades of passion and dedication from scientists, yes, but also mechanics, technicians, integration engineers, project managers, mission planners, operations engineers, flight engineers, mission directors, mission managers, logistics technicians and, of course, pilots. This village of people has been the beating heart of the DC-8 program.”
This DC-8 community was well represented at this workshop and played a key role in its success.
The DC-8 as a Means of International Engagement
The DC-8 community expanded beyond the U.S., opening unique opportunities for international engagement. The campaigns of the DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory routinely involved foreign students, institutions, and governments. For example, the Korea–U.S. Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) campaign, an international cooperative air quality field study in Korea, took place in 2016. For more information about this campaign, see the archived Earth Observer article, “Flying in the ‘Gap’ Between Earth and Space: NASA’s Airborne Science Program” [The Earth Observer, September–October 2022, 32:5, 4–14].
Yunling Lou [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory] spoke to the workshop audience about the value of international collaboration.
“I think [international collaboration] really helped – not just doing the collaboration [to accomplish a specific mission] but doing the training, the capacity building in these countries to build the community of global scientists and engineers,” said Lou.
Trina Dryal [LaRC—Deputy Director] continued that the DC-8 and NASA’s other airborne assets are more than just science laboratories.
“[They] are opportunities for science, diplomacy, international collaboration, cross learning, educational inspiration, and goodwill,” said Dryal—see Photo 3.
Photo 3. International collaborations included educational endeavors. Here, Walter Klein [AFRC—DC-8 Mission Manager] poses with a group of Chilean students onboard the DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory in Punta Arenas, Chile, March 2004. Photo credit: Jim Closs [NASA’s Langley Research Center]Student Investigations on the DC-8
Closer to home, the flying scientific laboratory affected the lives of many U.S. students and early career professionals. NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), is an eight-week summer internship for rising-senior undergraduates that takes place annually on the East and West coasts of the U.S – see Photo 4. During the program, students gain hands-on experience conducting all aspects of a scientific campaign. They conduct field research, analyze the data, and gain access to one or more of NASA’s ASP flying science laboratories. Since 2009, this program alone has provided hands on experience in conducting NASA Earth science research to XXXX students.
Berry Lefer [NASA Headquarters—Tropospheric Composition Program Manager] pointed out that SARP helped to integrate American students into DC-8 scientific missions.
“I want to make sure the NASA historians understand that the DC-8 is the premier flying laboratory on the planet, bar none,” said Lefer. “You’ve seen over the whole three-decade life of the DC-8 that education and outreach, student involvement has been a hallmark of the DC-8 [program].”
Yaitza Luna-Cruz [NASA Headquarters—Program Executive] was one among several SARP alumni who delivered testimony on the impact of the SARP program at the workshop.
“SARP unleashed my potential in ways that I cannot even describe,” said Luna-Cruz. “You never know what a single opportunity could do to shape the career of a student or early career researcher.
Luna-Cruz hopes these efforts continue with the coming of NASA’s new Boeing 777 airborne laboratory.
Photo 4. One of the most popular student investigations flown on the DC-8 (and other ASP aircraft) was (is) the Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), in which upper-level undergraduate students can gain valuable hands-on experience conducting field research. Students taking part in SARP and their mentors posed with the DC-8 at AFRC in 2019 [top] and in 2022 [bottom]. The 2022 SARP group flew flights over California’s Central Valley to study air quality. Photo credit: [Top] NASA; [bottom] Lauren Hughes [ARC]Final Flight and Retirement of the DC-8
The DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory flew its last science flight during the international Airborne and Satellite Investigation of Asian Air Quality mission (ASIA-AQ) in April 2024. Since its final flight, the aircraft has been retired to Idaho State University (ISU). Today, students in ISU’s aircraft maintenance program work on the airplane to develop real-world technical skills – continuing the DC-8’s mission as an educational platform. According to Gerald Anhorn [ISU—Dean of College of Technology], ISU students have a unique opportuning to gain experience working on a legendary research aircraft.
“Our students have that opportunity because of [NASA’s] donation” to the school, said Auborn.
Conclusion: Flying Toward the Future – From DC-8 to Boeing 777
While the DC-8 is retiring from active service, airborne observations continue to be a vital part of NASA’s mission. The agency recently acquired a Boeing 777and will modify it to support its ongoing airborne scientific research efforts. This new addition expands beyond the capacity of the DC-8 by allowing for even longer flights with larger payloads and more researchers to gather data. Several members of the Boeing 777 team from NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC) attended the workshop.
“I mentioned I was in charge of the ‘replacement’ for the DC-8,” said Martin Nowicki [LaRC—Boeing 777 Lead]. “Over the last two days, here, it’s become pretty apparent that there’s no ‘replacing’ the DC-8. It’s carved out its own place in history. It’s just done so much.”
Nowicki looks forward to working with workshop participants to identify useful lessons of the past for future operators. He concluded that the Boeing 777 will carry the legacy of the DC-8 and continue with capturing the amazing science of ASP.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Jack Kaye [NASA HQ—Associate Director of Research for the Earth Science Division] for his helpful reviews of the article draft. The first author also wishes to thank Lisa Frazier [NASA Headquarters—Strategic Events and Engagement Lead] for providing support and assistance throughout for the in-person workshop participants. and to the Earth Science Project Office team from NASA’s Ames Research Center, who performed essential conference tasks, such as website construction, audio-visual support, and food service management. This article is an enhanced version of the first author’s summary, which appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of News & Notes – The NASA History Office’s newsletter.
Bradley L. Coleman
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA History Office
bradley.l.coleman@nasa.gov
Alan B. Ward
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Global Science & Technology Inc.
alan.b.ward@nasa.gov
Summary of Special Engage Session on “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations”
27 min read
Summary of Special Engage Session on “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations”Introduction
On October 16, 2024, a special session of the NASA Goddard Engage series took place in the Goett Auditorium (Building 3) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The Engage series is intended to explain work at GSFC in an immersive and nontechnical setting. GSFC’s Office of Communications, Earth Sciences Division, and Scientific Colloquium organized this special session.
The featured speaker for this event was The Honorable Al Gore [former Vice President of the U.S.], who has a long history of advocating for the environment and raising public awareness of the worsening “climate crisis” – having received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
The event also featured a panel discussion called “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations.” Three distinguished scientists spoke about what drew their interest in Earth science and responded to questions from the moderator and the in-person and online audience.
Editor’s Note: This is not intended to be a comprehensive review of all NASA’s future plans regarding Earth Remote Sensing. Rather the panelists focused on some specific activities on which they had expertise that was intended to give a sense of the full suite of activities planned for the coming decade.
While The Earth Observer typically does not usually report on Center-specific events, the newsletter makes an exception for this event because the former Vice President participated – and because the topic of the panel discussion is directly relevant to this publications’ wider audience. The remainder of this article summarizes the Engage session, including Gore’s remarks, the panel discussion, and the question-and-answer (Q&A) session that followed. A YouTube video of the full event is available for viewing.
Opening Remarks
Dalia Kirschbaum [GSFC—Director of Earth Sciences Division] welcomed the participants – both in-person and virtual. Casey Swails [NASA Headquarters—Deputy Associate Administrator] continued by thanking Gore for being one of most influential voices in the U.S. on climate . She said that Gore’s words and actions have inspired much more than just the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission. NASA – and GSFC in particular – has been conducting environmental studies since its beginning. She named historical missions, such as Vanguard, the Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS), Landsat (partnership with U.S. Geological Service), and the Earth Observing System (EOS) – including more than 20 years of observations from the three Flagship Missions: Terra, Aqua, and Aura. (The Earth Observer’s Archives Page includes a “Bibliography of Articles with Historical Content” in which links to articles written on most of the missions mentioned in the previous sentence can be found.)
Swails pointed out that GSFC is home to the largest population of Earth Scientists who produce more than 400 journal articles each year.
“It will be you and your successors who will also make NASA (GSFC) the future of Earth observations,” said Swails. “You are continuing to accelerate core science research and enable action through the newly established Earth System Observatory project office, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) project office, and new flagship missions, such as the Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) and Landsat Next.”
On behalf of – at the time of the meeting – NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Swails thanked Gore for participating in the Engage event, and she thanked all the scientists and engineers – past and present – that have led the way in making NASA (GSFC) a leader in Earth observations for more than six decades.
Featured Speaker: The Honorable Al Gore
Kirschbaum then introduced Al Gore – shown in Photo 1 – whom she described as an environmental advocate and a central figure in advancing public discourse on climate and sustainability. Following Gore’s many years of political service, he confronted the world with “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary on climate change that helped raise global awareness of the worsening state of Earth’s climate. For these efforts, Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize on October 12, 2007.
Photo 1. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was the featured speaker at the Engage session on October 16, 2024. In addition to overall discussion of NASA’s Earth observing fleet and how Earth observations are used to investigate Earth’s changing climate, Gore’s remarks included reminiscences about his involvement in the Triana mission, which NASA canceled, then later revived and revised becoming known as DSCOVR – a NASA–NOAA partnership. See related article, “Summary of the 10th DSCOVR EPIC and NISTAR Science Team Meeting,” to learn more about DSCOVR and its scientific achievements over a decade in space. Photo credit: Travis Wohlrab [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)]Kirschbaum continued that Gore played a pivotal role in inspiring Triana , a NASA Earth science mission that would provide a near continuous view of Earth and measure Earth’s complete albedo while orbiting the first Sun–Earth Lagrange Point (hereinafter referred to as “the L1 point”). While Triana was canceled, the concept would live on and ultimately transition into the NASA–NOAA DSCOVR mission, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of its launch in February 2025. Gore made brief remarks at the opening session of the 10th DSCOVR Science Team meeting earlier in the day before coming to this meeting. A full “Summary of the 10th DSCOVR EPIC/ NISTAR Science Team Meeting” is published as a separate article in The Earth Observer.
Gore began by thanking all who worked on DSCOVR and other missions at NASA and NOAA. He thanked Makenize Lystrup [GSFC—Center Director] and the team for welcoming him. He also acknowledged the DSCOVR project leaders from GSFC: Adam Szabo [DSCOVR Project Scientist (PS)], Alexander Marshak [DSCOVR Deputy PS], Jay Herman [Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) Instrument Scientist], Richard Eckman [National Institutes of Health’s Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR) Instrument Scientist], and all those who worked on the mission.
Gore reminisced about when the Triana mission was put into storage in 2001. He remembered his former Senate colleague, Barbara Mikulski [longtime MD Senator] assuring him that they would “feed [the satellite] space snacks” and take care of it until it was ready to use – which ultimately happened in 2008. He also acknowledged those who’ve worked on the DSCOVR mission since launch to extend its capabilities. He also recognized Francisco Valero [former Triana Principal Investigator] who was at University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the time, and was integral in championing the first iteration of this mission (i.e., Triana), as well as Alan Lazarus [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—Research Scientist], who helped design DSCOVR’s solar particle sensor. (Jay Herman was also involved in Triana.) He also mentioned how Bill Nelson chaired the House Space Subcommittee contemporaneously to when Gore chaired the Senate Space Subcommittee.
Gore acknowledged that DSCOVR is just one member of NASA’s fleet of Earth observing satellites – see Figure 1 er– plus those of domestic and international partners. What’s unique about DSCOVR, however, is its location – orbiting the L1 point, nearly one million miles (1.1 million km) away from Earth.
Figure 1. [Top] NASA’s Earth Observing Fleet consists of over 20 satellite missions that, with one exception, continuously monitor our home planet from polar or low Earth orbit – including several installed on the International Space Station. The exception is the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) which orbits the first Earth–Sun Lagrange point in the Earth–Sun system [bottom], about 1 million mi (~1.1 million km) from Earth [bottom]. This gives the mission’s two Earth-observing instruments (EPIC and NISTAR) a unique vantage point for observing the full sunlit Earth. [Bottom] Some version of the placeholder diagram above showing DSCOVR orbiting the L1 point between Sun and Earth, 1 million miles from Earth. Figure credit: TBDIt can be argued that the modern environmental movement – which resulted in the development NASA’s Earth Observing System and other Earth observing missions – was inspired by a single image – “Earthrise,” which NASA Astronaut Bill Anders took of Earth on Christmas Eve 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission. The adage that “a picture is worth 1000 words” proved true in this instance as this single image changed how society viewed Earth, opening society’s awareness to the fragility and beauty of our home planet. Four years later, on Christmas Eve 1972, the first “Blue Marble” image was released, having been taken by Apollo-12 astronauts, as the spacecraft approached the Moon. (The image inspired subsequent “Blue Marble” images created using composites of satellite data.)
Per the Wikipedia page linked above, “The [Blue Marble image] has been identified as one of the most widely publicized and influential images since its release – particularly in the advocacy for environmental protection.”
Gore mentioned this in his remarks and stressed that this iconic image helped inspire the Triana/DSCOVR concept. This mission has helped scientists develop a more “complete picture” of Earth. He noted that today, DSCOVR/EPIC obtains a new “Blue Marble” (i.e. a full-disc image of Earth) every fifteen minutes – e.g., a set of images of Africa obtained on the 50th anniversary to mimic the original image from Apollo 12. Gore said that we learn so much about Earth from observing it from above (e.g., cloud dynamics, heating, vegetation, and the concentrations of ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter in the atmosphere). More than 100 peer-reviewed papers have been published on the unique science done at the L1 point by DSCOVR.
Gore said that DSCOVR – along with the rest of NASA’s Earth observing fleet – has produced a treasure trove of information that makes it possible to make the invisible, visible. What was once a mystery can now be explained with scientific data. When DSCOVR was proposed in 1998, the scientific community was on the verge of a technological explosion via the Internet that would allow the collection, storage, processing, and display of untold mountains of information about Earth. It has now evolved even further with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), leading to another potential information explosion just at the time when having such information is crucial.
“We are in the midst of a violent collision between our current society’s organization and the surprisingly fragile ecological systems on which human flourishing depends,” said Gore.
As the participants convened to celebrate the 10th anniversary of DSCOVR, he encouraged those present to think about how this data can be applied to address the incredible challenges of our generation – chief among them the Earth’s rapidly changing climate.
“It’s hard to grapple with just how serious the [situation] is,” said Gore. However, he noted that, “Mother nature is a persuasive advocate. She has our attention!”
He cited the two hurricanes – Helene and Milton – that impacted the U.S. in the weeks prior to this event. Despite the ever-present threat, Gore also pointed to the problematic “assault on funding” for science throughout the Federal budget. To address this need, Gore spoke of the growing need for private–public partnerships to address the imposing climate crisis.
Gore discussed how Climate TRACE, the organization he cofounded, is harnessing NASA data and fusing it with other sources to pinpoint the sources of GHGs. Climate TRACE has determined the 500 million most relevant point sources, along with metadate (data describing the data). In essence, Climate TRACE seeks to reverse-engineer the GHG levels based on other environmental variables. He said that the newest Climate TRACE dataset will be released on November 14, 2024 at COP-29. Gore acknowledged that NASA [Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)] contributes data and conducts analysis of data used in Climate TRACE.
Quoting Lord Kelvin, Gore said, “you can only manage what you measure,” noting that our society has been having trouble managing global warming to date. However, thanks to organizations like NASA, our society is gaining the ability to measure it accurately.
Gore then referenced John F. Kennedy’s famous speech at Rice University in 1961 that is most remembered for the line about “going to the Moon in this decade.” But in that speech Kennedy also said, “We set sail on this new sea, because there is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won. And they must be won and used for the progress of all people.”
Gore applied this quote to the ongoing study of Earth’s climate. He said that our society is continuing to “sail on this new sea.” He gave kudos to all the people at NASA who are seizing all the opportunities to gather and reflect on “new knowledge” and apply it to issues directly relevant to societal flourishing.
Gore concluded by saying that the DSCOVR mission is a great example of combining scientific discovery and public enlightenment. It has been incredibly successful, and he feels it should be extended, counting on scientists to expand our access to the knowledge we need to ensure the survival of human civilization.
“If you ever doubt we have the political will to make changes,” said Gore, “just remember that political will is itself a renewable resource.”
After a standing ovation from the audience, Kirschbaum thanked Gore for his remarks and his continued support of the Earth science community.
Panel Discussion on the Future of Earth Science Remote Sensing
Kirschbaum then transitioned to the panel discussion. She reflected on how we live with the impacts of climate every day – e.g., air quality impacting students, hurricanes impacting coastlines and coastal communities, shifting storm patterns impacting farmers.
Since its inception in 1958, NASA has been a leader in studying Earth. The agency makes critical observations from space, aircraft, and the ground to understand climate change. NASA researchers integrate this information into climate models to understand the past, represent the present, and project the future state of our home planet.
Kirschbaum said that today’s panel discussion focuses on the future. While questions remain, she emphasized that the agency works with partners on opportunities to do things differently and open new possibilities. She then introduced three NASA scientists, who also provide leadership beyond the walls of NASA.
- Miguel Román[GSFC Earth Sciences Division—Deputy Director for Atmospheres];
- Lesley Ott [GSFC—Project Scientist for the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center]; and
- John Bolten [GSFC—Chief of Hydrological Sciences Branch].
She asked each panelist – shown in Photo 2 – to start with by sharing a bit of their story with the audience to give some initial insights into their work and background on how they themselves became interested in studying climate.
Photo 2. Following Gore’s remarks, there was a panel discussion entitled “Remote Sensing and the Future of Earth Observations.” Dalia Kirschbaum [GSFC—Director of Earth Sciences Division – left] moderated the discussion, directing questions to the three panelists seated to her right [left to right]: Miguel Román [GSFC Earth Sciences Division—Deputy Director for Atmospheres]; Lesley Ott [GSFC—Project Scientist for the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center]; and John Bolten [GSFC—Chief of Hydrological Sciences Branch]. Photo credit: Travis WohlrabRomán began his career as an intern at NASA. After rising through the ranks, he left NASA to work in private industry before recently returning to GSFC. Originally from Puerto Rico, Román has been “inside the walls of a hurricane six times in his life.” He said that American citizens are increasingly experiencing what he experienced as a youth. He noted that two things happen when one in the middle of a hurricane – barometric pressure drops (ears pop) and there is a distinctive hissing sound.
Román said the term hurricane is derived from a Taino word. He explained that in Puerto Rican folklore, Juracán (i.e., the “evil” Goddess of wind – especially hurricanes) was in opposition to Yucahu (i.e., the “good” God of creation, agriculture, peace, and tranquility).
“The hissing winds of Juracán now reverberate across Florida, “ said Román—see Figure 2.
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Figure 2. Animation of brightness temperature data obtained by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA’s Aqua mission, showing Hurricane Milton as it approached and impacted Florida in October 2024. Colder temperatures (blues) are associated with the tops of high clouds, so the storm track stands out from the warmer temperature over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Figure credit: TBD
He stressed that these winds are “different” – more intense – than the ones dealt with in the past. He added that we now have “land hurricanes” – called derechos, which are intense, widespread, and fast-moving lines of storms.
Ott said that, in a sense, “science chose her.” She was raised by two scientists who met while studying physics. But she chose to study meteorology because it seemed to her to be the most ‘personal’ of the sciences. As Kirschbaum alluded to in her remarks earlier, weather impacts us all – physically and even emotionally. She loved this aspect of weather and wanted to understand the science behind the “air that we all swim in.”
“Weather seems to be less in background and more on the ‘front page’ these days,” said Ott. “We regularly hear news stories about superstorms and devastating fires. We’re all increasingly impacted by extreme weather.”
She also spoke about the ‘untold’ costs of climate change (e.g., lost school days, lost wages, not knowing if your home will survive a natural disaster), which has impacted how Ott practices meteorology. While she is a meteorologist, Ott doesn’t work on weather prediction. Instead, she uses the same kind of predictive models that are used for weather forecasting to focus on GHGs, which could help society navigate the realities of a changing planet.
In her work, Ott tracks how climate changes – for better or worse. While the trend toward a warming world (climate) fuels more frequent and powerful extreme events (weather), e.g., heat waves, droughts, and storms, there are exceptions achieved through intentional human intervention – e.g., the recovery of the ozone hole (bought about through enforcement of the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments) and improvements of air quality. Both of these examples of positive change illustrate the value of international collaboration to address environmental issues. Ott said that research efforts can help to “track the future of the planet,” leading to more positive changes. Extending these positive changes to GHGs will help communities more effectively plan for and respond to a rapidly changing world.
Bolten began by saying that he comes from Wood County WV and is the youngest of five boys. He could see the Ohio River from his kitchen window where he swam and canoed. Bolten explained that Wood County is in an area known as chemical valley, because a large number of chemical plants in the region provide important products for the world. These plants employ many of the people living in the region.
Bolten’s father designed wastewater treatment systems for these chemical plants and passed along a deep appreciation of the impact humans can have on the environment. Similarly, Bolten spent many years enjoying the Ohio River and West Virginia wilderness, which instilled in him the value of protecting our freshwater resources. He grew up immersed in the environment and wanted to contribute to the greater good of society and make a positive difference in the world. He said that NASA is championing these same core values as an innovator and leader in Earth System Science. Bolten thanked Gore for spurring public discourse around climate.
Question and Answer Session
Kirschbaum began the Q&A session with several prepared questions followed by questions from both in-person and virtual participants – along with some more interspersed comments from the guest of honor.
Kirschbaum posed the first question to Román: How do you see GSFC (NASA) advancements in tech and science helping us to predict extreme weather (e.g., heatwaves and hurricanes)?
Román began his answer by stating that NASA’s EOS era is coming to an end – after more than two decades of observations. NASA’s EOS flagship missions – Terra, Aqua, and Aura – have each far exceeded their scheduled mission life. While scientists and engineers work together to extend the function as long as possible, practical realities (e.g., fuel supply, orbit decay) dictate that all the satellites must be decommissioned in the next few years. The EOS era has taught NASA and its partners many lessons about how to operate under what he described as “an accelerated set of extreme climate events.”
“We simply could not have anticipated some of things we’re facing now when the EOS missions were designed,” said Ramon, citing the development of derechos and the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones.
The EOS mission instrument teams developed a whole Earth observing technology toolbox on the fly. For example, scientists learned that while microwave sounders work well over water, these instruments face challenges over land due to surface emissivity variations. Infrared (IR) sounders, on the other hand, provide valuable data over all surfaces during clear conditions, but they can’t penetrate thick clouds. Investigators combined both measurements, producing a powerful tool for observing the changing Earth system and beginning to quantify the impact of those changes.
While it is sad to see the EOS era end, Román said that NASA is entering an exciting new era where new technologies will allow for miniaturization of sounders. He also mentioned new observing technologies, such as the Hyperspectral Microwave Photonic Instrument (HyMPI) . The microwave sounders currently flying – which are part of NASA’s current Program of Record – retrieve atmospheric profiles with approximately 20 vertical layers. By contrast, HyMPI can produce as many as 1000 layers, offering enhanced thermodynamic sounding skill in the Earth’s planetary boundary layer (PBL) – the first 2 km (~1 mi) of the atmosphere – over conventional microwave sounders from the current Program of Record.
Román emphasized that the PBL is an area that is still poorly observed and understood. This lowest level of the atmosphere is where humans and other plants and animals live – and where most climate impacts occur. It is thus vitally important to improve our understanding of the PBL. To emphasize this point, Román cited that one million stillbirths can be linked to tropospheric ozone pollution every year. The encouraging news is that NASA’s data can inform public health policy to help mitigate these harmful impacts.
“The problem is an integrated one,” said Román, “and the Earth System Observatory (ESO) is designed for all of its missions to be integrated.”
Román stressed that the climate challenges are complex, and ESO provides a model for all future campaigns to integrate many approaches to solve big problems.
Kirschbaum directed the next question to Ott: As the NASA leader of the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center, where do you see NASA making contributions?
Ott responded that there has been tremendous innovation and advancement in the field of Earth observations over the past several decades – i.e., during the EOS era. As Al Gore alluded to in his earlier remarks, increasingly, this innovation comes from the pairing of private sector with the public data from satellites, aircraft campaigns, and ground networks that provide the infrastructure that companies need to test and improve new approaches.
NASA has also played a foundational role in developing the systems approach to studying Earth. For example, half of human-produced emissions (sources) of carbon dioxide (CO2) are absorbed by vegetation and the ocean (sinks). It remains unclear how long this balance will continue, however. NASA aims to bring together different measurements of vegetation, ocean productivity, and gases in the atmosphere and make them readily available to the public. A wholistic approach to climate requires input from multiple satellites to successfully model changes in the concentration GHGs throughout the Earth system. To achieve this goal, the best from the government (e.g., NASA data) needs to merge with private industry to produce consistent long term data records that people can trust.
Kirschbaum agreed that delivering trusted information and providing foundational datasets are core activities for NASA, and used that to segue to the next question, which she addressed to Bolten: NASA (GSFC) sits at the nexus of satellite observations and modeling. Where do you see progress of Earth Science to Action particularly in area of water quality?
Bolten said that the first image of Earth was obtained 78 years ago in 1946. It happened somewhat by chance. Soldiers and scientists at White Sands Missile Range strapped a camera to a captured German V2 rocket, and they were fortunate to get a clear image of Earth. Fast forward to today, NASA has a fleet of more than 20 Earth-observing satellites – see Figure 1 [top] – that provide routine Earth observations. These data are vital for understanding our home planet, and for decision making. The observations from these satellites can be analyzed and used to inform decisions about Earth.
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was created the same year as the first Earth image. He noted that ENIAC took up an entire room. Today, his smart phone, which fits in his pocket, is more than 230 million times faster than ENIAC – driving home the point that technology has advanced beyond what most could imagine. Bolten also noted that 2024 is NASA’s Year of Open Science.
Bolten said that his job focuses on food and water insecure areas, which often correlates with areas that lack data infrastructure. There is a vital need to strategically integrate open science and cloud-based services.
“We can’t do this [work] in a bubble,” said Bolten. “We must work together.”
Kirschbaum elevated a question from an attendee: There have been various climate change scenarios that have been offered as possibilities. Which one seems most likely to you to be correct?
Ott explained that the worst- or best-case scenarios are usually outliers (i.e., the conditions in the “real world” typically lie somewhere in between the extremes). She commented that we’ve seen a large climate change investment from the Biden Administration. Those kinds of investments will have impact and have the power to change the trajectory for the future. Part of what NASA does is to show the world that the data we collect does make a tangible difference. That gives society reason for hope. The point of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center is to bring together all these GHG observations in one place to analyze them and study them to show that we’re making progress on confronting this challenging issue. The objective is to create tangible evidence that, “when we take action, we can change things.”
As if to underscore Ott’s point, Gore responded during her presentation that he believes that public choice does significantly impact how the future unfolds.
“What we decide has consequences,” he said.
Gore is convinced the issue of our changing climate could be addressed if our society made up our collective mind to do it and then committed ourselves to take the decisive action needed to make that decision a reality in the near future.
“The future is really up to us,” said Gore.
The final three questions came from online participants.
How can NASA improve its messaging?
Bolten replied that this is a question that comes up repeatedly in the context of NASA outreach and communications. In the context of today’s discussion, he suggested the need to produce information that is not just useful but also usable (i.e., it can be applied in ways that directly benefit society). As an example, he pointed to the use of machine learning to model a flash flooding event in Ellicott City, MD (described in a 2020 article in Journal of Hydrometeorology) where waters rose from a normal levels to a devastating flash flood in about seven minutes – see Photo 3. Bolten continued that transparency, as well as connecting to people’s motivations, are keys to being more successful with NASA’s messaging.
Photo 3. In May 2018 devastating floodwaters impacted the town of Ellicott City, MD. Water levels in the small basin above the down rose from normal levels to flash flooding in seven minutes. Figure credit: NOAA’s Physical Science LaboratoryWhat big challenges could NASA turn to an opportunity to address climate change?
Román said that advances in forecasting on seasonal to sub-seasonal scales are key areas of focus for studies of Earth’s atmosphere. He noted that it is important to have observations and understand these observations to model events. For sub-seasonal prediction, we need to understand stratospheric dynamics and the chemistry going on in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.
“Major fires and volcanic eruptions create massive changes in the atmosphere,” said Román. “We can’t see them like we can when we view a Landsat image.”
One tool that could help us with sub-seasonal forecasting is the Stratosphere Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-resolved light Explorer (STRIVE) mission, which is one of four mission proposals for the first Earth System Explorer missions chosen for initial Phase A study. This mission aims to examine the interaction between the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere. In particular, STRIVE will make observations of Earth’s limb (i.e., a narrow slice of atmosphere), which can help scientists gain insight into aerosol loading. According to Román, this data will be key to getting an accurate 30-day forecast. He referred to this information as the “holy grail” in terms of preparedness and resilience by improving early warnings for extreme weather. Some nations are limited to only using Doppler radar and if it fails, they are essentially blind to what is coming.
Kirschbaum cited NASA’s AOS mission, which will be part of ESO, as another example of an important new measuring capability. This mission will represent the “next generation” for precipitations and aerosol observations. Scientists can use the data collected to understand how these phenomena interact with each other and with other atmospheric constituents to form storms.
“AOS will be the baseline while STRIVE would be the bottom line,” concluded Román.
What is the path forward to develop capacity for new observations while still maintaining high-quality, long-term time series and making the data accessible to the public?
Ott cited the Carbon Mapper coalition as a current example where such a balance is being achieved/. Carbon Mapper made its first light images available to the public last week. This mission brings together a unique coalition of partners (including NASA/JPL and Planet, a private company) to develop and deploy two satellites with capabilities to detect and quantify methane (CH4) – e.g., see Figure 3 – and CO2 super-emitters at a level of granularity needed to support direct mitigation action.
Figure 3. On December 4, 2024, the Tanager–1 satellite detected methane (CH4) plumes streaming downwind from oil and gas facilities in the Permian Basin (in west Texas and southeast New Mexico). This is one of more than 300 images of CH4 super-emitters from the oil and gas, coal, waste, and agriculture sectors across 25 countries that were released in February 2025. Tanager–1 launched in August 2024 and is the first satellite developed by the Carbon Mapper coalition between Planet (a private company) and NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and other partners. Planet owns, launched, and operates the satellite, which is equipped with technology from JPL. Figure credit: Carbon MapperNASA’s investments in technology via its Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) have enabled new airborne instruments that can be deployed in partnership with industry to demonstrate the quality of present-day satellite technologies and to provide a pathway toward next generation technologies. She stressed that the Federal government continues to play a crucial role in establishing standards and ensuring data integrity and continuity. NASA, for example, invests in ground-based systems and data services that help enable the commercial satellite industry. Long-term continuity of measurements is essential to connect new observations to existing ones. In this way, we can enable the continuing rise of NewSpace, while still providing foundational integrity and stability of the long-term climate data records that NASA and other Federal agencies maintain. This framework helps tie all the NewSpace endeavors together.
Gore cited an example of a public–private partnership that happened in the past. He commented that in 1998 (the same year that Triana was proposed) he was also involved in proposal for Digital Earth. The guiding vision behind Digital Earth was to be able to hover over any point and drop down through successively more detailed layers. NASA contracted with a company called Keyhole, which Google acquired in the early 2000s. Gore raised this example to point out that Google Earth is the result of those initial efforts.
Gore also connected this discussion to his work on Climate TRACE, which he had mentioned in his remarks earlier as a current example of public–private partnership. He stated that while we can see CH4 from space, the resolution is relatively low, i.e., a wide area must be scanned to get a CH4 measurement) and higher resolution is required to identify specific (or point) sources of CH4. Climate TRACE offers such higher resolution CH4 measurements, allowing researchers to focus more on identifying specific sources of pollution. By contrast the atmosphere is so enriched with CO2 that the signal-to-noise ratio is too high to measure the gas from space. For CO2 analysis, Climate TRACE uses AI to fuse together various images to allow CO2 to be detectable. The resulting measurements are precise enough to detect ripple ponds created by rotating fan blades.
Closing Remarks
Dalia Kirschbaum closed the meeting by thanking the guest of honor, Al Gore, once again for coming to the GSFC event. Gore not only spoke but was an active participant who demonstrated his knowledge of this subject area gained from years of experience working on climate issues. She quipped that “he’s the only former Vice President ever to use the Term signal-to-noise ratio correctly when talking to scientists.”.
Kirschbaum also thanked everyone who participated in this event – including the over 800 online participants. While the discussions today offered numerous glimpses into the future of Earth remote-sensing observations, this information barely scratches the surface of all the work being carried out by scientists and engineers at NASA to make these plans a reality. She thanked all of those who work at NASA – who often put in long hours, quietly, behind the scenes without much recognition – for the work they do daily to enable NASA’s mission.
Alan B. Ward
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Global Science & Technology Inc.
alan.b.ward@nasa.gov
NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim to Discuss Upcoming Launch, Mission
NASA will provide interview opportunities with astronaut Jonny Kim beginning at 9 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, March 18, to highlight his upcoming mission to the International Space Station in April.
The virtual interviews from Star City, Russia, will stream live on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
Media interested in participating must contact the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston no later than 5 p.m., Monday, March 17, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
Kim will launch on Tuesday, April 8, aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. The trio will spend approximately eight months aboard the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in the fall 2025. During his time in orbit, Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth.
Kim is making his first spaceflight after selection as part of the 2017 NASA astronaut class. A native of Los Angeles, he is a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander and dual designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim also served as an enlisted Navy SEAL. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. He completed his internship with the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. After completing initial astronaut candidate training, Kim supported mission and crew operations in various roles, including the Expedition 65 lead operations officer, T-38 operations liaison, and space station capcom chief engineer. Follow @jonnykimusa on X and @jonnykimusa on Instagram.
For more than two decades, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA is able to focus more of its resources on deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
-end-
Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Raegan Scharfetter
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-910-4989
raegan.r.scharfetter@nasa.gov
Discovery Alert: ‘Super-Earth’ Swings from Super-Heated to Super-Chill
The Discovery
A possible “super-Earth” orbits a relatively close, Sun-like star, and could be a habitable world – but one of extreme temperature swings, from scorching heat to deep freeze.
Key Facts
The newly confirmed planet is the outermost of three detected so far around a star called HD 20794, just 20 light-years from Earth. Its 647-day orbit is comparable to Mars in our solar system. But this planet’s orbit is highly eccentric, stretched into an oval shape. That brings the planet close enough to the star to experience runaway heating for part of its year, then carries it far enough away to freeze any potential water on its surface. The planet has been bouncing between these extremes roughly every 300 days – perhaps for billions of years.
Details
The planet spends a good chunk of its year in the “habitable zone” around its star, the orbital distance that would allow liquid water to form on the surface under the right atmospheric conditions. But because of its eccentric orbit, it moves to a distance interior to the inner edge of the habitable zone when closest to the star, and outside the outer edge when farthest away. At its closest, the planet’s distance from the star is comparable to Venus’s distance from the Sun; at its farthest point, it is nearly twice the distance from Earth to the Sun. The planet is possibly rocky, like Earth, but could be a heftier version – about six times as massive as our home planet.
Star HD 20794 and its posse of possible planets have been extensively studied, but the international team of astronomers that confirmed the outer planet, led by Nicola Nari of Light Bridges S.L. and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, examined more than 20 years worth of data to pin down all three planets’ orbits and likely masses.
The scientists relied on data from two ground-based, precision instruments: HARPS, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher in La Silla, Chile, and ESPRESSO, the Echelle Spectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations in Paranal, Chile. Both instruments, connected to powerful telescopes, measure tiny shifts in the light spectrum of stars, caused by the gravity of planets tugging the star back and forth as they orbit.
But such tiny shifts in the star’s spectrum also can be caused by imposters – spots, flares, or other activity on the star’s surface, carried along as the star rotates and masquerading as orbiting planets. The science team spent years painstakingly analyzing the spectrum shifts, or “radial velocity” data, for any sign of background noise or even jitters from the instruments themselves. They confirmed the reputation of HD 20794 as a fairly quiet star, not prone to outbursts that might be confused for signs of orbiting planets.
Fun Facts
The elliptically orbiting super-Earth appears to be an ideal target for future space-based telescopes designed to search for habitable worlds, seeking possible signs of life. High on the list is NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will someday examine the atmospheres of Earth-sized planets around Sun-like stars. When launched in the decades ahead, the observatory would spread the light from such planets into a spectrum to determine which gases are present – including those that might reveal some form of life. The relative closeness of HD 20974, only 20 light-years away, its brightness, and its low level of surface activity – not to mention the third planet’s wild temperature swings – could make this system a prime candidate for scrutiny by HWO.
The Discoverers
The international science team that confirmed the eccentric super-Earth was led by researcher Nicola Nari of the Light Bridges S.L. and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, and included Dr. Michael Cretignier of the University of Oxford, who first picked up the potential planet’s signal in 2022. Their paper, “Revisiting the multi-planet system of the nearby star HD 20794,” was published online by the journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics, in January 2025.
How Do We Know the Earth Isn’t Flat? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 53
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)This was a magical revelation for the Greeks and the Egyptians, who were able to see from the motions of the stars and the way the Sun moved. They saw the way the Sun’s shadow worked in different places. And they figured, well, that’s only possible if the Earth is round. And they took that information and it extended into the time of the great mariners that explored our Earth by ships.
They made the first orbit of Earth by sea, and they knew the Earth was round, allowing them to go across one ocean and come back home the other way. If the Earth were flat, they would have sailed off the end. And so we knew that.
But then, at the dawn of the space age, in the late 50s and 60s, we were able to see for ourselves that our beautiful home is a gorgeous round object known as a sphere. And that was really special. It put ourselves into context of our solar system and our universe.
We have a big round Sun and a beautiful round Earth and a round Mars.
And today we use the roundness of Earth, the spherical Earth, to use methods in space geodesy to figure out where we are, where we’re going. I haven’t been lost in years. That’s pretty good.
What’s happening to the Earth, what’s happening to our oceans as we take the pulse of our planet and consider other worlds beyond as we explore those.
So as we get ready to go back to the Moon with women and men and explore other worlds, the roundness of our solar system and our universe is a special thing. And we should embrace that as we understand why our planet isn’t flat.
[END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]
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