NASA - Breaking News | North Jersey Astronomical Group

NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return from Space Station

Sat, 04/06/2024 - 4:31am

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara gives a thumbs up inside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after she, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. O’Hara is returning to Earth after logging 204 days in space as a member of Expeditions 69-70 aboard the International Space Station and Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya return after having spent the last 14 days in space.NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara returned to Earth after a six-month research mission aboard the International Space Station on Saturday, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya.

The trio departed the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft at 11:54 p.m. EDT on April 5, and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 3:17 a.m., April 6 (12:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

O’Hara launched Sept. 15, 2023, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, who both will remain aboard the space station to complete a one-year mission. Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya launched aboard Soyuz MS-25 on March 23 along with NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who will remain aboard the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

O’Hara spent a total of 204 days in space as part of her first spaceflight. Novitskiy has logged a total of 545 days in space across four spaceflights and Vasilevskaya has spent 14 days in space as part of her first spaceflight.

Supporting NASA’s Artemis campaign, O’Hara’s mission helped prepare for exploration of the Moon and build foundations for crewed missions to Mars. She completed approximately 3,264 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 86.5 million miles. O’Hara worked on scientific activities aboard the space station, including investigating heart health, cancer treatments, and space manufacturing techniques during her stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. O’Hara will then board a NASA plane bound for her return to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

With the undocking of the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with O’Hara, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya, Expedition 71 officially began aboard the station. NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy C. Dyson, and Jeannette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko make up Expedition 71 and will remain on the orbiting laboratory until this fall.

Learn more about space station activities by following @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook, ISS Instagram, and the space station blog.

-end-

Joshua Finch / Julian Coltre / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / julian.n.coltre@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

Categories: NASA

NASA Leadership Spotlights Space Sustainability at Space Symposium

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 3:39pm

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy gives keynote remarks during the 37th Space Symposium, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Associate Administrator Jim Free are scheduled to speak at the Space Foundation’s 39th Space Symposium from Tuesday, April 9 through Thursday, April 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

During her keynote, “Responsible Exploration: Preserving the Cosmos for Tomorrow,” Melroy will discuss NASA’s integrated approach to foster the long-term sustainability of the space environment at 12:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 9.

Additionally, Free will moderate a panel titled “Mission Success is a Team Sport at NASA,” at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10. Panelists include:

Kenneth Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Dr. Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Robert Gibbs, associate administrator, Mission Support Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Catherine Koerner, associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development, NASA Headquarters
Dr. Kurt Vogel, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

The agency will stream both panels on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Jessica Watkins also will be participating in activities during the week. NASA currently is accepting applications for new astronauts until Tuesday, April 16. Media interested in an interview opportunity with the astronauts should email Amber Jacobson and Stephanie Schierholz.

To register for the symposium, media must email the Space Foundation at media@spacefoundation.org. Members of the media who have registered for the symposium will have two opportunities to meet onsite with different NASA leaders:

April 9 at 11:40 a.m. MDT: Pam Melroy and Charity Weeden, associate administrator, Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy
April 11 at 9 a.m. MDT: Jim Free and Chris Hansen, deputy manager, Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility

A full agenda for this year’s Space Symposium is available online.

Conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about NASA’s missions and projects on a variety of topics during brief talks with subject matter experts in the agency’s exhibit space.

NASA will provide photos and updates about its participation in the Space Symposium from its @NASAExhibit on X.

For more information about NASA, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/

-end-

Amber Jacobson / Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
240-298-1832 / 202-358-4997
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov

Share Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

Categories: NASA

NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 2:18pm

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

A six-person team of researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will travel to Fort Drum, N.Y., to study changes in the Sun’s radiation as it reaches Earth before, during, and after the total solar eclipse April 8.

Weather sensors similar to what is used on daily weather balloons by the National Weather Service will be added to a specially modified Alta X Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) and flown to a maximum altitude of nearly two miles, higher than the team has ever flown the UAS. The UAS will provide vertical modeling of temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and wind to test an alternative data collection to using traditional weather balloons in the troposphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere where most types of clouds are found and where weather occurs.

Jake Revesz, electronic systems engineer, prepping the UAS for flight.NASA/Jen Fowler

“UAS hold promise for rapid deployment into the lower troposphere with repeated measurements for higher temporal resolution at lower cost,” said Jennifer Fowler, principal investigator and mission commander, “Typically, atmospheric data collection from instruments on board aircraft is done using balloons as the platform that, once released, are not recovered. UAS allow for the opportunity to conduct repeated profiles since the radiosonde is recovered after each flight.”

‘Forcing events’ in weather are events that drive some type of sudden change. Examples of forcing events are volcanic eruptions, wildland fires, and solar eclipses. The predictability of an eclipse, compared to other forcing events, presents a perfect opportunity for scientists to study the impact on the planetary boundary layer, the lowest part of the troposphere, in a natural experiment. Experiments with weather balloons use instruments, called dropsondes, that collect data about the atmosphere as they float to earth. Radiosondes are dropsondes attached to aircraft.

“The configuration [of instruments] that we’re using, a radiosonde integrated with a 3D sonic anemometer, flown on a multi-rotor aircraft, to my knowledge, has never been done before,” explained Tyler Willhite, airborne sensor operator, “The radiosonde is designed for balloon launches. So, the fact that we’re flying it on a drone is very different. Low altitude sounding data is critical to fill knowledge gaps that currently exist in the atmospheric boundary layer. We also have the ability to have a large variety of data outputs that can be streamed in real-time. This is something that other weather payloads are somewhat limited in.”

NASA’s team will work closely with collaborators from the World Meteorological Organization, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the University of Albany who will launch weather balloons to gather measurements during the same timeframe.

“During our eclipse mission we will also be participating in the World Meteorological Organization’s world-wide flight campaign. We will gather data in real-time throughout the eclipse and the days beforehand, send those to the WMO to input into their models for more updated and accurate forecast measurements,” said Willhite, “That is the main goal of all this data is to be inputted into models for more updated and accurate forecasts.”

Share Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

Explore More 5 min read NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition Article 3 days ago 1 min read NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry Article 4 days ago 13 min read Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: The Langley ASIA-AQ Team Article 1 week ago

Categories: NASA

NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 2:00pm

5 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Fourteen undergraduate and graduate teams from across the country were selected as finalists to compete in one of NASA’s longest running student challenges — the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The competition fuels innovation and challenges undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Finalists will travel to Cocoa Beach, Florida next June to present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders.

The 2024 finalist teams are:

AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probe Theme:

Clarkson University with Khalifa University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
- AUTONOMY: Augmented Unmanned Technology Operating in Navigating Objects of Mining Yield
- Advisors: Dr. Michael Bazzocchi (Clarkson), Dr. Roberto Sabatini (Khalifa), Dr. Alessandro Gardi (Khalifa), Dr. Anna Bourmistrova (RMIT)

Stanford University with the University of Waterloo
- Modular Self-Assembling Robotic Architecture (MARA)
- Advisors: Prof. Anton Ermakov (Stanford), Prof. William Melek (Waterloo)

University of Texas, Austin
- AETHER: Autonomous Exploration Through Extraterrestrial Regions
- Advisor: Prof. Adam Nokes

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Project Draupnir
- Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh

Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector Theme:

Iowa State University
- Sub-Surface Condensation Analysis Rover for Crater Exploration (SCARCE)
- Advisor: Dr. Matthew Nelson

South Dakota State University
- POSEID-N: Prospecting Observation System for Exploration, Investigation, Discovery, and Navigation
- Advisor: Dr. Todd Letcher

Tulane University
- S.P.I.D.E.R: South Pole Ice Drilling and Exploration Rover
- Advisors: Dr. Matt Barrios

University of Maryland
- SITIS: Subsurface Ice and Terrain In-situ Surveyor
- Advisor: Dr. David Akin

University of Texas, Austin
- VENOM: Volatile Examining luNar prOspectors and Mothership
- Advisor: Prof. Adam Nokes

Long-Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon Theme:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne (ISAE) and National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space (EPFL)
- MARTEMIS: Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon with International Solidarity
- Advisors: Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman (MIT), Madelyn Hoying (MIT), Dr. George Lordos (MIT), Dr. Olivier de Weck (MIT), Dr. Alexandros Lordos (University of Cyprus), Vsevolo Peysakhovich (ISAE), Dr. Andreas Osterwalder (EPFL), Dr. Martin Heyne (Intuitive Machines), Dr. Alexander Miller (Blue Origin)

University of Maryland
- Moon-2-Mars
- Advisors: Dr. David Akin, Charles Hanner

Sustained Lunar Evolution Theme:

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with Barrios Technology
- THEIA: Trans-lunar Hub for Exploration, ISRU, and Advancement
- Advisors: Dr. Victoria Coverstone (UIUC), Dr. Robyn Woollands (UIUC), Alec Auster (Barrios Technology)

University of Maryland
- TILE: Terrapin Infrastructure for Lunar Evolution
- Advisors: Dr. Jarred Young, Christopher Kingsley

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
- POLARIS: Permanent-Outpost Lunar Architecture for Research and Innovative Services
- Advisors: Dr. Bárbara Calcagno, Dr. Gustavo Gutiérrez

For the 2024 competition, teams were asked to submit a two-minute video and detailed seven-to-nine-page proposal addressing one of four themes related to leveraging innovation to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. They included: Long-Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon, Sustained Lunar Evolution, AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probes – an Evolutionary Approach, and Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector. A steering committee of NASA personnel and industry experts selected the finalists based on a review of competitive proposals.

“Each year we come up with themes for the competition that NASA and the aerospace industry are invested in, because these are real challenges that we are facing, and every year we are impressed with the proposals we receive,” said Patrick Troutman, RASC-AL sponsor and lead for human exploration strategic assessments at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We heard a lot of great ideas from the university community this year, but these 14 finalists really raised the bar and impressed us.”

RASC-AL projects allow university students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. The competition emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary teams.

“It’s never an easy decision when it comes to choosing finalists, because we love working with university students across the board and appreciate how passionate they all are about aerospace, but these fourteen teams really went above and beyond in their approaches and we look forward to hearing more from them at the forum, ” said Dr. Christopher Jones, Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley, and RASC-AL sponsor and judge.

For 2024, each finalist team receives a $6,500 stipend to further develop and present their concept at the RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, where they will present their findings to a judging panel of NASA and industry experts. The teams with the top two winning papers will be invited to present their design projects to industry experts at AIAA’s 2024 ASCEND Conference.

RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace.

For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit:
https://rascal.nianet.org

Share Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

Explore More 3 min read NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles Article 3 days ago 1 min read NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA Achieves Milestone for Engines to Power Future Artemis Missions Article 4 days ago

Categories: NASA

Astronauts Protect Their Eyes with Eclipse Glasses

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 1:45pm

NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

While visiting NASA Headquarters in Washington on March 19, 2024, astronauts Stephen Bowen, left, Frank Rubio, Warren Hoburg, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, posed for a photo wearing solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”). Eclipse glasses with the ISO 12312-2 international standard or a safe handheld solar viewer are a must-have to look directly at the Sun during the eclipse before or after totality—the brief period where the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s face. Viewing any part of the bright Sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.

NASA will have live coverage of the total solar eclipse, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.

Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Categories: NASA

NASA’s LRO Finds Photo Op as It Zips Past SKorea’s Danuri Moon Orbiter

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 1:00pm

NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), which has been circling and studying the Moon for 15 years, captured several images of Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri lunar orbiter last month. The two spacecraft, traveling in nearly parallel orbits, zipped past each other in opposite directions between March 5 and 6, 2024.

The dark spot centered in the bottom third of this image is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri orbiter, smudged because it was traveling quickly in the opposite direction of NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) when LRO snapped the photo. At the time, Danuri was orbiting 5 miles, or 8 kilometers, below LRO’s orbit, and LRO was about 50 miles, or 80 kilometers, above the Moon’s surface. This image covers an area about 2 miles, or 3 kilometers, wide.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

LRO’s narrow angle camera (one in a suite of cameras known as “LROC”) captured the images featured here during three orbits that happened to be close enough to Danuri’s to grab snapshots.

Due to the fast relative velocities between the two spacecraft (about 7,200 miles, or 1,500 kilometers, per hour), the LRO operations team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, needed exquisite timing in pointing LROC to the right place at the right time to catch a glimpse of Danuri, the Republic of Korea’s first spacecraft at the Moon. Danuri has been in lunar orbit since December 2022. Although LRO’s camera exposure time was very short, only 0.338 milliseconds, Danuri still appears smeared to 10 times its size in the opposite direction of travel because of the relative high travel velocities between the two spacecraft.

At the first imaging opportunity, LRO was oriented down 43 degrees from its typical position of looking down at the lunar surface to capture Danuri (streaked across the middle) from 3 miles, or 5 kilometers, above it.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University During the next encounter, LRO was closer to Danuri, about 2.5 miles, or 4 kilometers, and oriented 25 degrees toward it.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University For the final photo, LRO was reoriented by 60 degrees to catch a glimpse of Danuri when it was 5 miles, or 8 kilometers, below it. This image pair was corrected for viewing geometry, and, on the right, the Danuri pixels were unsmeared and the image stretched to highlight the Korean spacecraft. The image was rotated 90 degrees so the surface would look like something a person would see looking out the window.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University This image shows Danuri in the white box near the right-hand corner of the image. The large bowl-shaped crater visible in the upper left is 7.5 miles, or 12 kilometers, wide.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University Last spring, Danuri had an opportunity to photograph LRO. Its ShadowCam instrument, provided by NASA, snapped this photo of LRO as the Korean spacecraft passed about 11 miles (18 kilometers) above it on April 7, 2023. Based on the design of LRO’s narrow angle cameras, the ShadowCam was built to take high-resolution images of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, where frozen water is likely trapped. The relative velocity between the two spacecraft was about 7,000 miles, or 11,000 kilometers, per hour.NASA/KARI/Arizona State University

LRO is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon. NASA is returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners to expand human presence in space and bring back new knowledge and opportunities.

More on this story from Arizona State University’s LRO Camera website

By Mark Robinson, Arizona State University, Tempe, and Lonnie Shekhtman, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Media Contact:
Nancy N. Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Facebook logo @NASAGoddard @NASAMoon @NASAGoddard @NASAMoon Instagram logo @NASAGoddard @NASASolarSystem Explore More 4 min read How Data from a NASA Lunar Orbiter is Preparing Artemis Astronauts

As astronauts prepare to head back to the Moon for the first time since 1972,…

Article 7 months ago 3 min read NASA Moon Camera Mosaic Sheds Light on Lunar South Pole

A new mosaic of the Shackleton Crater showcases the power of two lunar orbiting cameras…

Article 7 months ago 2 min read NASA’s LRO Images Intuitive Machine’s Odysseus Lander Article 1 month ago Share Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactNancy N. Jonesnancy.n.jones@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms

Categories: NASA

Introduction to Spectrum

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 12:01pm

You can’t see it. . .you can’t touch it. . .you can’t live without it. Use these downloadable activity sheets to enhance your lesson plan at school or at home. Scroll down for the downloadable files. Have fun!

Spectrum Infographic Infographic featuring factoids about the electromagnetic spectrum.NASA Spectrum Crossword Puzzle Crossword puzzle featuring terms relevant to the electromagnetic spectrum.NASA Download Spectrum Infographic

Jan 17, 2024

JPEG (586.88 KB)

Spectrum Crossword

Jan 17, 2024

JPEG (363.91 KB)

Categories: NASA

Lagniappe for April 2024

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 10:53am

7 Min Read Lagniappe for April 2024 Explore the April 2024 issue, highlighted by NASA achieving a milestone for new Artemis Moon rocket engines, NASA and Stennis Leaders providing an annual update, and a reminder about the total solar eclipse on April 8.

Explore the April 2024 issue of Lagniappe featuring:

NASA Achieves Milestone for Engines to Power Future Artemis Missions
NASA-Sponsored FIRST Robotics Competition Welcomes 37 Teams to Magnolia Regional
NASA, Stennis Leaders Provide Annual Update

Gator Speaks Gator SpeaksNASA/Stennis

Picture this. The year is 2044. It is 20 years into the future, and you think to yourself, “Life is all about moments. Sometimes we recognize the moment at hand, and at other times, it passes us by before we notice. I wish I paid attention when NASA told me about the last total solar eclipse in 2024, since it has been such a long time since one was visible across the United States.”

Then, you snap out of the daydream of the future, return to the present moment, and realize, “Wait! There’s still time to view the total solar eclipse in 2024.”

The regret you were feeling from missing out on the total solar eclipse in 2024 fades. Indeed, the moment has not passed you by… yet.

The total solar eclipse coming on Monday, April 8, 2024, will in fact be the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. If you are like Gator, you may have to brush up on what the word contiguous means, which describes the adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia that make up the United States of America.

It is a long time until 2044, so I invite all to step outside on April 8 and safely give this year’s eclipse a look. A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun.

Depending on your location, you may be in a spot where the Moon’s shadow completely covers the Sun, known as the path of totality. The sky will become dark, as if it were dawn or dusk. Weather permitting, people along the path of totality will see the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, which is usually obscured by the bright face of the Sun.

No matter where you are on April 8, NASA has you covered with this Solar Eclipse Guide: What to Expect: A Solar Eclipse Guide (nasa.gov).

It will help you learn more about when the eclipse will occur, where you can go to watch the eclipse, and how you will watch the eclipse safely.

Every day, NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all. On April 8, I invite you to join NASA wherever you might be and explore the views of the total solar eclipse.

INFINITY Science Center, the official visitor center of NASA Stennis, will be open on Monday, April 8, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at regular admission rates. All are invited for a day of solar science.

40 Years Ago: STS-41C, the Solar Max Repair Mission

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 10:23am

On Apr. 6, 1984, space shuttle Challenger took off on its fifth flight, STS-41C. Its five-person crew of Commander Robert L. “Crip” Crippen, Pilot Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, and Mission Specialists Terry J. “TJ” Hart, James D. “Ox” Van Hoften, and George D. “Pinky Nelson flew a seven-day mission that expanded the shuttle’s capabilities. They deployed the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), the largest and heaviest shuttle payload up to that time. They retrieved, repaired, and redeployed the failing Solar Max satellite in a highly complex choreography of rendezvous and proximity operations, autonomous astronaut flying of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), robotic operations, and spacewalking. The mission also demonstrated the ability of the ground teams and astronauts to successfully respond to unexpected situations.

Left: The STS-41C crew of (clockwise from bottom left) Commander Robert L. Crippen, Mission Specialists Terry J. Hart, James D. “Ox” Van Hoften, and George D. “Pinky” Nelson, and Pilot Francis R. “Dick” Scobee. Middle: The STS-41C crew patch. Right: Challenger’s payload bay for STS-41C.

In February 1983, NASA announced Crippen, Scobee, Hart, Van Hoften, and Nelson as the STS-13 crew, the mission renamed STS-41C in September 1983. Crippen, the flight’s only veteran, had flown as the pilot for the first shuttle flight STS-1 in April 1981 and at the time of the announcement in training to command STS-7 in June 1983. For the other four, all selected as astronauts in 1978, STS-41C represented their first trip into space. The mission had two primary objectives. First, the deployment of the LDEF, managed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and second, the retrieval, repair, and release of the Solar Maximum Mission, Solar Max for short, satellite, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. A student experiment in the middeck looked at the behavior of 3,300 honeybees in weightlessness. Crippen and Scobee had prime responsibility for operating the shuttle and conducting the rendezvous and proximity operations. Hart had primary responsibility for deploying LDEF using the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS), the shuttle’s robotic arm. Nelson would fly the MMU to secure Solar Max so Hart could grapple it with the RMS and place it into a Flight Support Structure (FSS) in Challenger’s payload bay where Nelson and Van Hoften would execute the repairs. Several earlier shuttle flights rehearsed techniques and tested hardware to make STS-41C successful, including the first shuttle spacewalk on STS-6, the SPAS-01 rendezvous and proximity operations on STS-7, the PFTA test of the RMS on STS-8, and the test flights of the MMU on STS-41B.

Left: The structure of the Long-Duration Exposure Facility before the installation of the experiments. Middle: Launch of the Solar Maximum Mission in February 1980. Right: Schematic of the Solar Max satellite.

The LDEF consisted of a 21,400-pound structure measuring 14 by 30 feet, at the time the largest and heaviest object launched by the shuttle and handled by the RMS. The satellite contained 86 trays of various types of materials and structures, power and propulsion science, electronics, and optics representing 57 individual experiments managed by 194 U.S. and international principal investigators. A later shuttle mission planned to retrieve LDEF after 9-10 months in orbit and return it to Earth. Solar Max, launched on Feb. 14, 1980, utilized the Multi-Mission Modular Spacecraft body, specifically designed for retrieval by the space shuttle for servicing and/or repair by spacewalking astronauts. One of its instruments, the white-light coronagraph/polarimeter, operated successfully before suffering an electronics failure in September 1980. Two months later, the second of four fuses in Solar Max’s attitude control system failed, causing it to rely on its magnetorquers to maintain attitude. This meant that only three of its seven instruments could obtain useful data, as others required more accurate pointing. Ground controllers put the satellite in a slow spin to keep it in a stable sun-pointed orbit awaiting the arrival of the repair crew. Should the repairs prove unsuccessful, the astronauts could secure Solar Max in Challenger’s payload bay and return it to Earth.

Left: The crawler transporter departs Launch Pad 39A after delivering Challenger. Middle: On launch day, the STS-41C astronauts walk out of crew quarters to board the Astrovan for the ride to Launch Pad 39A. Right: Challenger rises into the sky.

Challenger’s successful first shuttle landing at KSC on Feb. 11, 1984, to end the STS-41B mission shortened the turnaround time between touchdown and the next launch to a then-record 55 days. Following refurbishment and mating with its External Tank (ET) and Solid Rocket Boosters, Challenger returned to Launch Pad 39A on March 29. Liftoff occurred on schedule at 8:58 a.m. EST on April 6, with Challenger taking its five-member crew into the skies. As soon as the shuttle cleared the launch tower, control of the flight shifted to Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Flight Director Gary E. Coen led his team of controllers, including capsule communicator or capcom John E. Blaha, monitored all aspects of the launch. STS-41C performed the first direct to orbit ascent, using the shuttle’s main engines to achieve orbit instead of relying on the Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) engines to complete the job. The ET reentered over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, providing ground observers with a brilliant light show as it broke apart. A later two-minute OMS burn circularized the orbit to reach Solar Max’s 290-mile altitude, the highest of the shuttle program to that time. Once in orbit, the astronauts opened Challenger’s payload bay doors and deployed the Ku-band high-gain antenna to communicate with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). They activated and checked out the FSS to support Solar Max in the payload bay and Hart unstowed the RMS and tested its mobility.

Left: STS-41C astronaut Terry J. Hart lifts the Long-Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) out of Challenger’s payload bay. Middle: LDEF shortly after release. Right: LDEF recedes from Challenger.

The main activity for the astronauts’ second day in space centered around the deployment of LDEF. Crippen undid the retention latches holding LDEF in the payload bay. Hart operated the RMS, grappling LDEF first by the Experiment Initiation System fixture to activate the experiments, then relocating the arm’s end-effector to LDEF’s second fixture to lift it straight out of the payload bay. Holding it high over Challenger, Hart commanded the end effector to release LDEF and Crippen and Scobee pulsed Challenger’s thrusters to slowly back away. LDEF assumed a gravity gradient orientation, with its heavier end pointing at the Earth, remaining stable without the use of any thrusters. To prepare for the next day’s spacewalk, Nelson and Van Hoften began their prebreathe, breathing pure oxygen using their launch and entry helmets, while Crippen reduced the cabin’s pressure from the normal 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10.2 psi. Due to a configuration issue that had them breathing air instead of oxygen, Nelson and Van Hoften had to repeat the prebreathe activity. They also checked out their spacesuits to ensure their readiness for the spacewalk, while Crippen and Scobee began the series of rendezvous maneuvers to reach Solar Max.

Left: STS-41C astronauts James D. “Ox” Van Hoften, left, and George D. “Pinky” Nelson wear their launch and entry helmets during the prebreathe for the first spacewalk. Middle: Nelson flies the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) from Challenger to Solar Max. Right: Nelson prepares for the first docking attempt with Solar Max.

Mission Control during the first STS-41C spacewalk as NASA astronaut George D. “Pinky” Nelson flies the Manned Maneuvering Unit to the Solar Max satellite.

By the time the crew awoke to begin their third day in space, Challenger had closed the distance to Solar Max to 320 miles. Engineers at Goddard powered down Solar Max’s instruments and enabled its communications system to interact with Challenger’s. They also inhibited its attitude control system to allow the astronauts to maneuver it without resistance. The satellite continued its slow rotation of once every six minutes to maintain stability. The astronauts first visually sighted Solar Max at a distance of 600,000 feet, and continued maneuvers to close the distance to the satellite. As Challenger approached Solar Max, Hart assisted Nelson and Van Hoften to don their spacesuits. Jerry L. Ross served as capcom during the spacewalk. Nelson and Van Hoften switched their suits to battery power, officially starting the spacewalk, as Crippen and Scobee closed in on Solar Max, finally stopping 140 feet away. The spacewalkers exited the airlock into the payload bay and began checking out the MMU. Nelson donned the unit and with Van Hoften’s help installed the Trunnion Pin Attachment Device (TPAD), the device used to dock the MMU with a trunnion pin on Solar Max, on the front of the unit. Hart unstowed the RMS, ready to grapple Solar Max. Nelson flew the MMU in the payload bay to familiarize himself with its characteristics then began his 10-minute flight to Solar Max. On his first attempt to dock to the satellite using the TPAD, its jaws didn’t fire to grasp the trunnion pin and he bounced off the satellite. He tried a second time, and once again could not dock. He tried a third time, but bounced off again, his attempts causing Solar Max to wobble in all three axes. He grabbed one of the solar arrays in an attempt to stabilize the satellite. Running low on maneuvering gas, Nelson flew back to the payload bay. Crippen decided to capture Solar Max using the rolling grapple technique with Hart operating the RMS. After several unsuccessful attempts, Mission Control and the crew decided to stand down for the day. Goddard turned on the magnetorquers to slowly bring the spacecraft under control. Nelson parked the MMU, and both he and Van Hoften returned inside after a shortened spacewalk lasting 2 hours 38 minutes. Crippen fired Challenger’s thrusters to back away from Solar Max and station keep 60 miles away overnight. The initial plan for the next day would have Crippen and Scobee rendezvous a second time and have Hart do a rotating grapple with the RMS to capture Solar Max and place it in the FSS, with Nelson and Van Hoften performing the repairs on the satellite during a second spacewalk the day after.

STS-41C crew Earth observation photographs. Left: The Texas Gulf Coast. Middle left: Panama. Middle right: The Richat structure in Mauritania. Right: Circular irrigation in Saudi Arabia.

Overnight, Mission Control decided to take another 24 hours to finalize plans and delayed the rendezvous by one day, adding an extra day to the mission. They informed the crew shortly after the wakeup call on flight day four. In the meantime, engineers at Goddard managed to slow Solar Max’s tumble and pointed its solar arrays to the Sun to charge up its batteries. The crew’s activities on this day focused on the honeybee student experiment, the large format camera, and Earth observations.

Left: Terry J. Hart grapples Solar Max during orbital night. Right: Using the RMS, Hart moving Solar Max to the Flight Support Structure in Challenger’s payload bay.

The astronauts began their fifth day by starting the second rendezvous with Solar Max, the series of maneuvers bringing Challenger to within 40 feet of the satellite, now rotating at half a degree per second as expected to perform the rolling grapple. With Solar Max positioned over the payload bay, Hart steered the RMS and grappled the satellite on his first attempt. He maneuvered it to the rear of the payload bay and berthed it on the FSS, marking the first in-orbit capture of a satellite for repair. Umbilicals provided power from the shuttle to Solar Max. Hart unlatched the RMS and stowed until its next use during the following day’s spacewalk. President Ronald W. Reagan called to congratulate the crew on the successful capture of Solar Max.

Left: Astronauts George D. “Pinky” Nelson, left, and James D. “Ox” Van Hoften replace Solar Max’s attitude control system module during the second STS-41C spacewalk. Middle: Van Hoften, left, and Nelson replace the main electronics box of one of the satellite’s instruments. Right: Nelson on the end of the Remote Manipulator System inspects Solar Max.

Left: During the second STS-41C spacewalk, James D. “Ox” Van Hoften flies the Manned Maneuvering Unit in Challenger’s payload bay. Middle: Terry J. Hart lifts the repaired Solar Max out of Challenger’s payload bay. Right: Solar Max departs from Challenger.

On flight day six, Scobee helped Nelson and Van Hoften put on their spacesuits in preparation for the mission’s second spacewalk, with the plan to complete all the repairs on Solar Max originally planned across two excursions. After depressurizing and exiting the airlock, Van Hoften positioned himself on the Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR) that Hart had picked up with the RMS. With both spacewalkers back with the Solar Max, they first replaced the satellite’s attitude control system module – the item that crippled the satellite – in just 45 minutes. They next installed a manifold to protect the X-ray polychromator instrument. For the final task, the replacement of the main electronics box of the satellite’s chronograph polarimeter instrument, never designed for on-orbit repair, Nelson swapped places with Van Hoften on the MFR. The two completed that task in one hour. Nelson then moved over to take measurements of the trunnion pin to determine why the TPAD could not latch onto it during the first spacewalk. He noted a little thermal button sticking up about ¼ inch that might have interfered with the TPAD, later identified conclusively as the culprit. Hart then steered Nelson on the end of the arm to conduct a survey of Solar Max. Because the spacewalkers completed the repair tasks ahead of schedule, Mission Control allowed Van Hoften to fly the MMU in the payload bay and conduct engineering tests with it. Nelson and Van Hoften returned to the airlock, ending the second spacewalk after 6 hours 44 minutes, the longest Earth orbital spacewalk to that time. Between the two spacewalks, Nelson and Van Hoften spent 9 hours 22 minutes outside Challenger. Hart grappled Solar Max with the RMS and lifted it out of the FSS, holding it over the payload bay overnight as engineers at Goddard checked out the satellite’s systems prior to release the next day.

Left: STS 41C astronaut James D. “Ox” Van Hoften examines the honeybee student experiment. Right: The STS-41C crew members pose on Challenger’s flight deck near the end of their successful mission, wearing customized shirts.

The next morning, Hart released Solar Max from the RMS and Scobee flew the shuttle away from the satellite. Later in the morning, the astronauts, sporting shirts that read “Ace Satellite Repair Co.,” held a 30-minute press conference, answering reporters’ questions about their ultimately successful first repair of an on-orbit satellite. They spent the rest of the day readying Challenger for the next day’s entry and landing, including stowing unneeded equipment and testing the orbiter’s maneuvering thrusters and aerodynamic control surfaces. Nelson and Van Hoften stowed the two spacesuits and Hart the RMS, equipment that had served the crew so well during this mission.

Left: Space shuttle Challenger rolls down the runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California to end the STS-41C mission. Middle: STS-41C astronauts congratulate themselves on a successful flight. Right: In Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Lead STS-41C Flight Director Eugene F. Kranz applauds the successful landing of STS-41C.

On Friday April 13, as the astronauts awakened for their final day in space, their distance to LDEF had increased to more than 6,000 miles and to Solar Max to 80 miles. In preparation for reentry, the astronauts closed the payload bay doors. Mission Control called up that a low cloud deck had moved over the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at KSC and waved off the deorbit burn by one revolution. As the weather at KSC worsened, with light rain showers moving in, Mission Control decided to bring Challenger home at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where the weather seemed perfect. Crippen and Scobee oriented Challenger with its tail in the direction of flight and fired its two OMS engines to slow the spacecraft enough to drop it from orbit. They reoriented the orbiter to fly with its heat shield exposed to the direction of flight as it entered Earth’s atmosphere at 400,000 feet. The buildup of ionized gases caused by the heat of reentry prevented communications for about 15 minutes but provided the astronauts a great light show as their reentry took place in darkness. After crossing the California coastline, they made the final turn into Edwards. Scobee lowered the landing gear at 300 feet and Crippen brought Challenger down to a smooth touchdown 16 minutes after sunrise on Edwards’s dry lake bed runway 17, calling out “Houston, Challenger is wheels stop,” to end the successful satellite deployment and repair mission. During the mission lasting 6 days 23 hours 40 minutes they orbited the Earth 108 times.

Left: Space shuttle Challenger arrives back at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Middle: Solar Max image of a solar coronal mass ejection event on May 4, 1986. Right: Solar Max false color image of Halley’s comet taken on Feb. 28, 1986.

Following the landing, the astronauts returned to Houston, where they reunited with their families who had awaited them at KSC. Workers at Edwards towed Challenger to NASA’s Dryden, now Armstrong, Flight Research Center and mounted it atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. On April 17, the duo took off from Edwards on the first leg of the transcontinental flight to KSC. After an overnight refueling stop at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Challenger arrived at KSC’s SLF, where workers began preparing it for its next flight, STS-41G. Meanwhile, engineers at Goddard began activating Solar Max’s instruments almost immediately after deployment, and all systems, including the repaired ones, worked perfectly, and within three days its instruments began collecting science data. Following a 30-day thorough checkout, Solar Max returned to a fully operational status. And although it missed the 1980 solar maximum, the satellite returned much useful data as the Sun cycled through a solar minimum and approached the next maximum in the 11-year cycle. When the mission ended in November 1989, Solar Max had returned 240,000 images of the Sun’s corona, recorded more than 12,000 solar flares, and observed 15 deep-space gamma ray bursts and also observed Halley’s Comet as it passed through the inner solar system in early 1986. Although planned for retrieval after 9-10 months in space, LDEF remained in orbit far longer. A series of payload shuffles in 1985 followed by the Challenger accident in January 1986 and subsequent extended grounding of the shuttle fleet delayed its return until STS-32 in January 1990, after 57 months in space.

Enjoy the crew narrated video of the STS-41C mission.

Read Crippen’s, Hart’s, Van Hoften’s, and Nelson’s recollections of the STS-41C mission in their oral histories with the JSC History Office.

Explore More 11 min read Eclipses Near and Far Article 4 days ago 7 min read 65 Years Ago: NASA Selects America’s First Astronauts Article 6 days ago 6 min read 45 Years Ago: Space Shuttle Columbia Arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Article 3 weeks ago

Categories: NASA

Hubble Peers at Pair of Closely Interacting Galaxies

Fri, 04/05/2024 - 3:20am

2 min read

Hubble Peers at Pair of Closely Interacting Galaxies This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features Arp 72.ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Galbany, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features Arp 72, a very selective galaxy group that only includes two galaxies interacting due to gravity: NGC 5996 (the large spiral galaxy) and NGC 5994 (its smaller companion, in the lower left of the image). Both galaxies lie approximately 160 million light-years from Earth, and their cores are separated from each other by a distance of about 67,000 light-years. The distance between the galaxies at their closest points is even smaller, closer to 40,000 light-years. While this might sound vast, in galactic separation terms it is really quite close. For comparison, the distance between the Milky Way and its nearest independent galactic neighbor Andromeda is around 2.5 million light-years. Alternatively, the distance between the Milky Way and its largest and brightest satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (satellite galaxies orbit around another galaxy), is about 162,000 light-years.

Given this and the fact that NGC 5996 is roughly comparable in size to the Milky Way, it is not surprising that NGC 5996 and NGC 5994 — separated by only about 40,000 light-years — are interacting with one another. In fact, the interaction likely distorted NGC 5996’s spiral shape. It also prompted the formation of the very long and faint tail of stars and gas curving away from NGC 5996, up to the top right of the image. This ‘tidal tail’ is a common phenomenon that appears when galaxies closely interact and is visible in other Hubble images of interacting galaxies.

Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Download this image

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Share Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 EditorAndrea Gianopoulos Related Terms

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Galaxies Stories

Stars Stories

NASA Astrophysics

Categories: NASA

NASA Employee Grateful for Opportunities at NASA Stennis

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 4:07pm

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Cherie Beech works in the NASA Stennis Office of the Chief Information Officer, where she helps many of the more than 5,200 employees of the NASA Stennis Federal City, as customer engagement and information technology acquisition specialist.NASA/Danny Nowlin

Cherie Beech knows full well the opportunity that working at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, affords. Since arriving at the federal city as a contractor 26 years ago, she since has expanded her skillset and grown as a member of the NASA Stennis team.

“I always want to make sure, by doing my job, that things are better than the way I found it…That’s what I strive to do. I’m ecstatic to work at NASA Stennis. I’m very humble and grateful for it.”

cherie beech

NASA Stennis Customer Engagement and IT Acquisition Specialist

“We are very blessed to have these opportunities,” said Beech, who works in the NASA Stennis Office of the Chief Information Officer. “It is fascinating because it takes everybody, all of us, to accomplish the work. It took me a long time, but I finally understand that it takes all skillsets to accomplish the job, because it takes all of us to ensure mission success.”

The mission is helping NASA explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery. Through Artemis, NASA will return America to the Moon to establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration and then set its sights on Mars for the benefit of all. Such a goal requires a diverse group of people to help make it happen.

“We all bring our unique traits and skills to the table, and that’s what I enjoy,” Beech said. “We all are valued. We are all contributing to the bigger thing, and I find that fascinating.”

Beech, a native of Picayune, Mississippi, grew up less than 15 miles from the south Mississippi NASA center often referenced then as “the test site.” She sometimes heard propulsion testing as a young girl and since has experienced NASA Stennis transforming into a multifaceted aerospace and technology hub.

“It’s a place full of opportunity,” she said.

Beech began her NASA Stennis career as a scheduler with Lockheed Martin. Her role evolved to include work with budget submissions, and communication and outreach, among other functions. Beech continued working across multiple contracts through the years working to support the NASA Stennis Office of the Chief Information Officer. She subsequently was hired as a civil servant by NASA in 2020.

“Once I was at NASA Stennis, then I realized there is a lot here to offer for all careers. There are also chances where you can talk to people and learn from everybody. People are so nice and very willing to help you and mentor and guide you. Since being here, I have learned all the necessary technical knowledge.”

In her role as customer engagement and information technology acquisition specialist with NASA, Beech now helps many of the more than 5,200 employees working across the federal city to ensure all understand the latest technology updates that contribute to their line of work. She also helps ensure employees are aware of all the NASA information technology purchasing regulations for work projects involving hardware and/or software.

“I always want to make sure, by doing my job, that things are better than the way I found it,” Beech said. “That’s what I strive to do. I’m ecstatic to work at NASA Stennis. I’m very humble and grateful for it.”

For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:

Stennis Space Center – NASA

Categories: NASA

NASA’s NEOWISE Extends Legacy With Decade of Near-Earth Object Data

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 3:26pm

6 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept depicts the NEOWISE spacecraft in orbit around Earth. Launched in 2009 to survey the entire sky in infrared, the spacecraft took on a more specialized role in 2014 when it was reactivated to study near-Earth asteroids and comets.NASA/JPL-Caltech

As the infrared space telescope continues its long-duration survey of the universe, it is creating a unique resource for future astronomers to make new discoveries.

NASA’s NEOWISE mission has released its 10th year of infrared data – the latest in a unique long-duration (or “time-domain”) survey that captures how celestial objects change over long periods. Time-domain astronomy can help scientists see how distant variable stars change in brightness and observe faraway black holes flaring as they consume matter. But NEOWISE has a special focus on our planet’s local cosmic neighborhood, producing a time-domain infrared survey used for planetary science, with a particular emphasis on asteroids and comets.

Short for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, NEOWISE is a key component of NASA’s planetary defense strategy, helping the agency refine the orbits of asteroids and comets while also estimating their size. One such example is the potentially hazardous asteroid Apophis, which will make a close approach of our planet in 2029.

By repeatedly observing the sky from its location in low-Earth orbit, NEOWISE has made 1.45 million infrared measurements of over 44,000 solar system objects. That includes more than 3,000 NEOs, 215 of which the space telescope discovered. Twenty-five of those are comets, including the famous comet NEOWISE.

“The space telescope has been a workhorse for characterizing NEOs that may pose a hazard to Earth in the future,” said Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE’s principal investigator at the University of Arizona and University of California, Los Angeles. “The data that NEOWISE has generated for free use by the scientific community will pay dividends for generations.”

From Data to Discovery

Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission sends data three times a day to the U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) network, which then delivers it to IPAC, an astronomical data research center at Caltech in Pasadena, California. IPAC processes the raw data into fully calibrated images that are accessible online. It also generates NEO detections, sending them to the Minor Planet Center – the internationally recognized clearinghouse for the position measurements of solar system bodies. By searching multiple images of the same patch of sky at different times, scientists capture the motions of individual asteroids and comets.

This top-down animated view of the solar system shows the positions of all the asteroids and comets detected by NEOWISE in the decade since its reactivation in 2014. Credit: IPAC/Caltech/University of Arizona

“The science products we generate identify specific infrared sources in the sky with precisely determined positions and brightnesses that enable discoveries to be made,” said Roc Cutri, lead scientist for the NEOWISE Science Data System at IPAC. “The most fun thing when I look at the data for the first time is knowing that no one has seen this before. It puts you in a unique position of doing real exploration.”

IPAC will also produce data products for NASA’s NEO Surveyor, which is targeting a launch no earlier than 2027. Managed by JPL, with Mainzer serving as principal investigator, the next-generation space survey telescope will seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects, such as dark asteroids and comets that don’t reflect much visible light but shine brighter in infrared light.

Two Missions, One Spacecraft

The NEOWISE spacecraft launched in 2009, but as a different mission and with a different name: the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, which set out to survey the entire sky. As an infrared telescope, WISE studied distant galaxies, comparatively cool red dwarf stars, exploding white dwarfs, and outgassing comets, as well as NEOs.

An infrared telescope requires cryogenic coolant to prevent the spacecraft’s heat from disrupting its observations. After the WISE telescope’s ran out of coolant and was no longer able to observe the universe’s coldest objects, NASA put the spacecraft into hibernation in 2011. But because the telescope could still detect the infrared glow of comets and asteroids as they are heated by the Sun, Mainzer proposed to restart the spacecraft to keep an eye on them. The mission was reactivated in 2014 and renamed NEOWISE, extending the life of a spacecraft that was initially planned for less than a year of operation.

“We are 14 years into a seven-month mission,” said Joseph Masiero, NEOWISE’s deputy principal investigator and a scientist at IPAC. He started at JPL as a postdoctoral researcher working on WISE just two months before the spacecraft launched on Dec. 14, 2009. “This little mission has been with me my entire career – it just kept going, making new discoveries, helping us better understand the universe,” Masiero added. “And if it wasn’t for the tyranny of orbital dynamics, I’m sure the spacecraft would continue to operate for years to come.”

Solar activity is causing NEOWISE to fall out of orbit, and the spacecraft is expected to drop low enough into Earth’s atmosphere that it will eventually become unusable.

“NEOWISE has lasted way past its original spacecraft design lifetime,” said Joseph Hunt, NEOWISE project manager at JPL. “But as we didn’t build it with a way to reach higher orbits, the spacecraft will naturally drop so low in the atmosphere that it will become unusable and entirely burn up in the months following decommissioning. Exactly when depends on the Sun’s activity.”

More About the Mission

NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor support the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed NASA to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 140 meters (460 feet) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet’s orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth.

JPL manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for PDCO within the Science Mission Directorate. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing takes place at IPAC at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about NEOWISE, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/neowise

and

http://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu/

NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission Data From NASA’s WISE Used to Preview Lucy Mission’s Asteroid Dinkinesh Asteroid Mission Aims to Explore Mysteries of Earth's Core News Media Contacts

Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1257 / 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov

2024-038

Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 Related Terms

Explore More 5 min read Rock Sampled by NASA’s Perseverance Embodies Why Rover Came to Mars Article 2 days ago 4 min read How NASA Spotted El Niño Changing the Saltiness of Coastal Waters Article 2 days ago 5 min read NASA’s Europa Clipper Survives and Thrives in ‘Outer Space’ on Earth Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Categories: NASA

NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 2:57pm

1 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The results from a NASA software tool called OVERFLOW, used to model the flow of air around aircraft, are shown in this image.NASA

Several air taxi companies are using a NASA-developed computer software tool to predict aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. This tool allows manufacturers working in fields related to NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission to see early in the aircraft development process how design elements like propellors or wings would perform. This saves the industry time and money when making potential design modifications.

This NASA computer code, called “OVERFLOW,” performs calculations to predict fluid flows such as air, and the pressures, forces, moments, and power requirements that come from the aircraft. Since these fluid flows contribute to aircraft noise, improved predictions can help engineers design quieter models. Manufacturers can integrate the code with their own aircraft modeling programs to run different scenarios, quantifying performance and efficiency, and visually interpreting how the airflow behaves on and around the vehicle. These interpretations can come forward in a variety of colors representing these behaviors.

This computer program is available to industry for U.S. release via the software.nasa.gov website.

An OVERFLOW modeling image from the manufacturer Joby Aviation.Joby Aviation An OVERFLOW modeling image from the manufacturer Wisk.Wisk An OVERFLOW modeling image from the manufacturer Archer Aviation.Archer Aviation Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 EditorDede DiniusContactTeresa Whitingteresa.whiting@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms

Explore More 1 min read NASA Langley Participates in Drone Responders Conference Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA VIPER Robotic Moon Rover Team Raises Its Mighty Mast Article 4 days ago 13 min read Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: The Langley ASIA-AQ Team Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Aeronautics

Advanced Air Vehicles Program

Armstrong Technologies

Categories: NASA

Save-The-Date: DoD-NASA Lidar Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM)

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:41pm

2 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Details

DoD-NASA Lidar TIM

August 13-15, 2024

MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Arlington, VA (Crystal City)
241 18th St S, Arlington, VA 22202

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is hosting a TIM between NASA and DoD to facilitate the sharing of lidar knowledge between these institutions and identify potential areas of collaboration that maximally utilizes the strengths from each organization. This TIM will provide an opportunity to discuss common issues and challenges and possible solutions.

Objectives

This TIM will include up to CUI-level presentations and discussions from leaders in lidar technology development and application.

Share DoD & NASA capabilities in lidar systems, technologies, processing and exploitation/analysis with DoD community & NASA centers, including JPL and NASA headquarters.
Identify NASA and DoD mission and sensor needs that could leverage existing lidar investments to satisfy requirements.
Connect NASA and DoD lidar practitioners, experts and end-user communities and
Roadmap at least two potential applications for collaborative opportunity. Briefings will only include up to CUI level, and representatives from the NASA Centers, JPL, and various DoD organizations (FFRDCs, UARCs, service laboratories, and user community) will be invited to participate.

Co-Chairs

M. Jalal Khan (MIT-LL), T.Y. Fan (MIT-LL), Jessica Gaskin (NESC), Upendra Singh (NESC), and Parminder Ghuman (GSFC)

More information

Coming soon!

Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 Related Terms

Explore More 7 min read Lagniappe for April 2024 Article 1 hour ago 2 min read Hubble Peers at Pair of Closely Interacting Galaxies

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features Arp 72, a very selective galaxy…

Article 9 hours ago 6 min read NASA’s NEOWISE Extends Legacy With Decade of Near-Earth Object Data Article 20 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Categories: NASA

Tech Today: Synthetic DNA Diagnoses COVID, Cancer

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 12:20pm

2 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Princeton University undergraduate Kate Sheldon, doing summer work at Firebird Diagnostics, holds a prototype of the Agnostic Life Finder, or ALF, which was developed to seek life on Mars without making Earth-specific assumptions about molecular biology.Credit: Firebird Diagnostics LLC

At first glance, the search for life beyond Earth might not seem related to human illness, but to biochemist Steven Benner, the connection is clear.

“In diagnostics for an infectious disease, you’re looking for alien life inside of a patient,” said Benner, who has spent nearly two decades conducting NASA-funded research on what alien life might look like at the molecular level.

“It’s actually a bit easier to build a diagnostics assay to detect COVID than to build an agnostic life finder to search for Martian DNA, whose structure would be unknown,” he said.

Benner is the co-founder and CEO of Firebird Diagnostics LLC, based in Alachua, Florida, which sells synthetic DNA and molecule packages to researchers, who use them to develop tools to detect and treat ailments like cancer, hepatitis, and HIV. The company also sold COVID tests during the pandemic.

Benner holds that while some of what we know about biochemistry on Earth may be universal, most is Earth-specific. He and his partners developed DNA-like molecular systems with six and eight nucleotides, or building blocks, based on research funded partly by NASA’s Astrobiology Program. These systems add to the four building blocks in Earth-based DNA an additional two or four synthetic nucleotides.

Mary Voytek, head of the Astrobiology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said Benner’s work shows there are alternatives to Earth-based biological molecules, “This helps us understand what else is possible and may be found in life beyond Earth.”

Read More Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 Related Terms

Explore More 2 min read Tech Today: Cutting the Knee Surgery Cord Article 1 week ago 2 min read Tech Today: NASA Helps Find Where the Wildfires Are Article 2 weeks ago 2 min read Tech Today: Suspended Solar Panels See the Light Article 3 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics

Missions

Astrobiology

Technology

Technology Transfer & Spinoffs

Categories: NASA

NASA Wallops to Launch Three Sounding Rockets During Solar Eclipse

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 11:54am

Three Black Brant IX sounding rockets for the Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission are scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility launch range in Virginia. The launch window opens April 8, 2024, at 2:40 p.m. EDT.

Launching approximately 45 minutes before, during, and after the peak local eclipse, the APEP sounding rockets will study how Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet. Targeted launch times for the three rockets are 2:40 p.m., 3:20 p.m., and 4:05 p.m. but may be subject to change.

The launches will be livestreamed on Wallops’ YouTube beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Weather permitting, the launches may be visible in the mid-Atlantic region. Remember to always wear solar safety or “eclipse” glasses when looking at the Sun to protect your eyes. For the Wallops area, the eclipse will begin around 2:06 p.m. The Moon will block 81.4% of the Sun’s light at peak local eclipse at 3:23 p.m. and conclude at 4:34 p.m.

Launch viewing map forAtmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path mission are scheduled to launch from NASA’s launch range at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on April 8, 2024.Credit: NASA

Members of the public are invited to the NASA Wallops Visitor Center on Monday, April 8, to view the sounding rocket launches and the partial eclipse. Gates to the visitor center will open from 1-5 p.m. and will close once parking lot capacity is reached. For those traveling to our visitor center, all vehicles MUST fit within a standard parking spot for this event; no large, oversized vehicles or buses will be allowed for entry.

The visitor center will offer solar-related activities, have NASA sounding rocket experts onsite to answer questions, and host Globe Program expert Brian Campbell, who will be showing people how to collect data during the eclipse using the Observer app. Eclipse glasses and pinhole viewers will be available during this event while supplies last. Food trucks will be onsite serving food and drinks, including empanadas, crab cakes, hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue, water ice, and more.

While this combined viewing event is exciting for some, it may not be ideal for all. A designated sensory-friendly quiet area will be available at the Wallops Visitor Center for guests. This supervised quiet area will include dimmed lighting, seating, a reflection area, and touch items for guests to explore.

Prepare for safe solar viewing during this year’s eclipse by checking out NASA’s Eclipse Safety page.

Media Contact
Amy Barra
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia

Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactAmy Barraamy.l.barra@nasa.govLocationWallops Flight Facility Related Terms

Explore More 6 min read NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

NASA will launch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024,…

Article 2 weeks ago 5 min read Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Solar Corona Before Eclipse

Our Sun, like many stars, is adorned with a crown. It’s called a corona (Latin…

Article 3 days ago 6 min read That Starry Night Sky? It’s Full of Eclipses

Our star, the Sun, on occasion joins forces with the Moon to offer us Earthlings…

Article 3 days ago

Categories: NASA

Advances in Understanding COPV Structural Life

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 11:08am

The Structures Technical Discipline Team (TDT) was involved in numerous investigations this past year, but composites, fracture mechanics, and pressure vessels dominate the list. All three of these specialties are important to composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV). One of the TDT’s most important findings this year was the exposure of an inherent vulnerability that underpredicts structural life, driven by current specifications and testing standards for COPVs. This NESC work and its recommendations will significantly improve safety and mission success for all current and future COPV operations throughout the aerospace community.

Dr. David Dawicki employs digital image correlation to evaluate strain in metallic coupons.

Damage Tolerance Analysis Standard Can Be Unconservative for COPVs

COPVs consist of a metallic liner that contains the fluid or gas and a composite overwrap that provides strength (Figure 1). The operational pressure cycles for a spaceflight COPV generally starts with an initial overpressure, called an autofrettage cycle, that yields the metallic liner, while the stronger composite overwrap remains elastic. Liner yielding during autofrettage results in a small amount of liner growth, resulting in liner compression when the COPV is depressurized after autofrettage. The subsequent operational cycles can be either elastic (elastically responding COPV) or elastic-plastic (plastically responding COPV).

Figure 1.Illustration of COPV major components.

The damage tolerance life evaluation of spaceflight COPVs is governed by the ANSI/AIAA-S-081B, Space Systems–Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels. This standard provides the baseline requirements for damage tolerance analyses (DTA) of COPVs with elastically responding liners. The standard allows the DTA to consider the influence of the elastic-plastic autofrettage cycle independently of the elastically responding cycles. The elastically responding cycles are permitted to be analyzed using linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) tools like the NASGRO crack-growth analysis software. The standard states that the DTA must not consider any beneficial influences of the autofrettage cycle on the subsequent elastically responding cycles but does not consider the possibility of detrimental influences of the autofrettage cycle.

In the study, Unconservatism of Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics Analysis Post Autofrettage (NASA/TM-20230013348), an NESC team conducted a combined experimental and analytical investigation into the influence of the autofrettage cycle on subsequent elastic cycles. Tests were conducted on coupons with part-through surface cracks that were subjected to cyclic loading that was representative of the operational cycles of a COPV liner. Half of the tests were conducted with the full loading history (including the autofrettage cycle) and the other half were identical except that the autofrettage cycle was omitted. Cracks in the tests with the autofrettage cycle grew faster than cracks in the identical tests that excluded the autofrettage cycle, as shown by the fracture surfaces in the photomicrographs (Figure 2). The distance between the mark left by the autofrettage cycle and the ductile fracture region was the amount of crack growth (Δa=0.0077 inch) due to the LEFM cycles. Crack growth due to the LEFM cycles in the LEFM-only test was Δa=0.0022 inch, more than three times slower than that in the identical autofrettage plus LEFM test.

Figure 2. Fracture surfaces from two identical tests showing crack growth (Δa), with and without an initial autofrettage cycle.

A validated finite element analysis and experimental measurements were used to evaluate the influence of the autofrettage cycle. The elastic-plastic autofrettage cycle was found to create a large region of plastic deformation ahead of the crack and blunted the crack tip. Previous fracture mechanics tests and analytical studies in the literature examined elastic overloads and found that plastic deformation ahead of the crack developed residual stresses that closed the crack surfaces, reducing the subsequent crack growth rate. However, the crack blunting allowed the crack to remain open for the entire loading, as illustrated by the finite element simulations of the crack surfaces at peak and minimum stress (Figure 3). The differences between the tests with and without the autofrettage cycle that were observed experimentally and simulated with a validated finite element analysis indicate that the damage tolerance analysis approach allowed by the standard can be unconservative. The NESC proposed an alternative damage tolerance analysis approach and recommended that the AIAA Aerospace Pressure Vessel Committee on standards update the ANSI/AIAA S-081B standard to address COPV liners with compressive stresses following the peak autofrettage stress.

Figure 3. Abaqus finite element analysis of crack growth with and without an autofrettage cycle. Y-axis indicates crack opening displacement and x-axis indicates crack length.

A Brief Introduction to Damage Tolerance for COPVs

ANSI/AIAA S-081B standard, Space Systems–Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels, is a compilation of accepted practices for COPVs used in space applications developed as a collaboration of industry, government, and universities. The standard covers many aspects of COPVs including damage tolerance life analyses that are used for flight qualification overseen by fracture control boards. The standard for damage tolerance requires that the COPV “…survive four operational lifetimes with the largest crack in the metallic liner that can be missed by a nondestructive evaluation (NDE) subjected to bounding stresses representative of what the COPV experiences in its life (manufacturing, integration, operational including thermal and residual).” The operational life of a COPV liner typically includes an initial elastic-plastic cycle (autofrettage or proof) followed by other cycles that may be elastic (elastically responding liners) or elastic-plastic (plastically responding liners). A representative load spectrum is shown at right. During autofrettage, the COPV is pressurized to at least proof pressure to compress the liner inner surface, making it less susceptible to operational stresses. COPVs with elastically responding liners may be damage-tolerance qualified using LEFM analysis tools, but plastically responding liners must be damage-tolerance qualified by testing. Guidance on evaluating the appropriateness of LEFM tools for COPV damage tolerance was provided in NESC Technical Bulletin No. 21-04, Evaluating Appropriateness of LEFM Tools for COPV and Metal Pressure Vessel Damage Tolerance Life Verification Tolerance Life Verification and NASA/TM-2020-5006765/Volumes 1/2.

A COPV consists of a metallic liner with an exterior composite wrap. The composite provides strength, and the liner contains the compressed fluid or gas. Results of a failure test. COPVs contain high pressure gases or fluids that can have tremendous explosive energy.

Future of the Structures Discipline

As the Agency moves more toward forming strategic industry partnerships with commercial contracts for new programs, the Structures TDT has highlighted the need for proper focus on appropriate requirements as the Team’s strategic vector. Although NASA Standards are often provided for reference, their prescriptive nature is not necessarily appropriate for use with commercial contracts. Industry partners and/or NASA team members create alternative standards, unique for each program, but there is inconsistency across different programs with respect to detailed requirements in these standards. Emerging technologies such as soft goods, large-scale deployable structures, inflatables, probabilistic analysis techniques, and additive manufactured hardware all drive unique requirements. The TDT identified the need for a tailoring guide, tied to mission priorities and risk postures, to assist with insight/oversight strategies for NASA programs. Using industry partners also means less NASA-owned hardware, which can lead to a loss of institutional knowledge.

Representative loading spectrum for an elastically responding COPV liner with an initial elastic-plastic cycle.

Its imperative that Engineering Directorates at each center proactively look for in-house projects so the next generation of engineers have opportunities for hands-on experience developing, designing, and testing (DDT) flight hardware. This experience is the foundation necessary for NASA engineers to guide the commercial partners through their own DDT processes and to be able to provide appropriate verification and validation of NASA requirements. Structures TDT members form a diverse team crossing all centers and programs, facilitating good collaboration on requirement interpretation, which ultimately ensures safety of NASA crew and mission success of operations in these new commercial programs.

Computed tomography scan of a metallic liner detecting a part-through crack.

Categories: NASA

Harnessing the 2024 Eclipse for Ionospheric Discovery with HamSCI

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 11:00am

3 min read

Harnessing the 2024 Eclipse for Ionospheric Discovery with HamSCI

As the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, draws closer, a vibrant community of enthusiastic amateur radio operators, known as “hams,” is gearing up for an exciting project with the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) group. Our goal is clear and ambitious: to use the Moon’s shadow as a natural laboratory to uncover the intricacies of the ionosphere, a layer of Earth’s atmosphere crucial for radio communication.

This rare event offers an unmatched opportunity to observe the ionosphere’s response to the temporary absence of solar radiation during the eclipse. HamSCI, a collective of citizen scientists and professional researchers, plans to seize this opportunity by conducting radio experiments across North America.

This image captures the Moon passing in front of the Sun during an eclipse on Jan. 30, 2014, seen in space by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. NASA/SDO

Our mission centers on two main activities: the Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) and the Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge. For the SEQP, amateur radio operators across the continent will aim to establish as many radio contacts (called QSOs) as possible before, during, and after the eclipse, creating a lively scene filled with radio signals. This effort will generate a vast network of observations on radio wave behavior under the eclipse’s unique conditions. The SEQP, a competitive yet friendly event, encourages wide participation and adds an element of excitement.

The Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge, named in honor of ham radio operator Philip Gladstone for his significant contributions to radio science, adopts a focused approach. Participants will use special equipment to monitor select radio frequencies, aiding in our observation of the ionosphere’s reaction to the eclipse. This crucial aspect of our project validates scientific models of the ionosphere and enriches our understanding of its interaction with solar radiation.

Amateur radio enthusiasts of all backgrounds and skill levels are invited to join these events, united by a shared enthusiasm for scientific exploration and a collective curiosity about the upper atmosphere. Through the support of the amateur radio community, HamSCI demonstrates the profound impact of citizen science in contributing to our scientific knowledge.

As the eclipse ends, our analytical work begins. We will delve into the collected data, interpret it, and publish our findings. These efforts are expected to significantly advance our understanding of the ionosphere and showcase the value of community involvement in scientific discovery.

HamSCI is an organization that aims to inspire wonder and encourage people to participate in scientific discovery. The community of citizen scientists associated with HamSCI believe that the seamless fusion of science and amateur radio is an excellent example of what can be achieved when people come together, driven by curiosity and a passion for exploration.

For more information about HamSCI and details on the SEQP and the Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge, please visit:

HamSCI’s Eclipse Information: https://hamsci.org/eclipse
Contest Information: https://hamsci.org/contest-info

By McKenzie Denton
HamSCI Citizen Science Team Member

Share

Details

Last Updated

Apr 04, 2024

Related Terms

Explore More

5 min read Scientists Pursue the Total Solar Eclipse with NASA Jet Planes

Article

23 hours ago

5 min read That Starry Night Sky? It’s Full of Eclipses

Article

2 days ago

4 min read Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Solar Corona Before Eclipse

Article

2 days ago

Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Categories: NASA

How NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Measure Ages of Stars

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 10:00am

Guessing your age might be a popular carnival game, but for astronomers it’s a real challenge to determine the ages of stars. Once a star like our Sun has settled into steady nuclear fusion, or the mature phase of its life, it changes little for billions of years. One exception to that rule is the star’s rotation period – how quickly it spins. By measuring the rotation periods of hundreds of thousands of stars, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope promises to bring new understandings of stellar populations in our Milky Way galaxy after it launches by May 2027.

Stars are born spinning rapidly. However, stars of our Sun’s mass or smaller will gradually slow down over billions of years. That slowdown is caused by interactions between a stream of charged particles known as the stellar wind and the star’s own magnetic field. The interactions remove angular momentum, causing the star to spin more slowly, much like an ice skater will slow down when they extend their arms.

This effect, called magnetic braking, varies depending on the strength of the star’s magnetic field. Faster-spinning stars have stronger magnetic fields, which causes them to slow down more rapidly. Due to the influence of these magnetic fields, after about one billion years stars of the same mass and age will spin at the same rate. Therefore, if you know a star’s mass and rotation rate, you potentially can estimate its age. By knowing the ages of a large population of stars, we can study how our galaxy formed and evolved over time.

Measuring Stellar Rotation

How do astronomers measure the rotation rate of a distant star? They look for changes in the star’s brightness due to starspots. Starspots, like sunspots on our Sun, are cooler, darker patches on a star’s surface. When a starspot is in view, the star will be slightly dimmer than when the spot is on the far side of the star.

This image of our Sun was taken in August 2012 by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. It shows a number of sunspots. Other stars also experience starspots, which cause the star’s observed brightness to vary as the spots rotate in and out of view. By measuring those changes in brightness, astronomers can infer the star’s rotation period. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will collect brightness measurements for hundreds of thousands of stars located in the direction of the center of our Milky Way galaxy, yielding information about their rotation rates.Credit: NASA

If a star has a single, large spot on it, it would experience a regular pattern of dimming and brightening as the spot rotated in and out of view. (This dimming can be differentiated from a similar effect caused by a transiting exoplanet.) But a star can have dozens of spots scattered across its surface at any one time, and those spots vary over time, making it much more difficult to tease out periodic signals of dimming from the star’s rotation.

Applying Artificial Intelligence

A team of astronomers at the University of Florida is developing new techniques to extract a rotation period from measurements of a star’s brightness over time, through a program funded by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope project.

They are using a type of artificial intelligence known as a convolutional neural network to analyze light curves, or plots of a star’s brightness over time. To do this, the neural network first must be trained on simulated light curves. University of Florida postdoctoral associate Zachary Claytor, the science principal investigator on the project, wrote a program called “butterpy” to generate such light curves.

A star can have dozens of spots scattered across its surface at any one time, causing irregular brightness fluctuations that make it difficult to tease out periodic signals of dimming due to the star’s rotation. This graph of data from the butterpy program shows how the observed brightness of a simulated star would vary over a single rotation period. NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will be able to measure the light curves, and therefore rotation rates, of hundreds of thousands of stars, bringing new insights into stellar populations in our galaxy.Credit: NASA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

“This program lets the user set a number of variables, like the star’s rotation rate, the number of spots, and spot lifetimes. Then it will calculate how spots emerge, evolve, and decay as the star rotates and convert that spot evolution to a light curve – what we would measure from a distance,” explained Claytor.

The team has already applied their trained neural network to data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). Systematic effects make it more challenging to accurately measure longer stellar rotation periods, yet the team’s trained neural network was able to accurately measure these longer rotation periods using the TESS data.

Roman’s Star Survey

The upcoming Roman Space Telescope will gather data from hundreds of millions of stars through its Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, one of three core community surveys it will conduct. Roman will look toward our galaxy’s center – a region crowded with stars – to measure how many of these stars change in brightness over time. These measurements will enable multiple science investigations, from searching for distant exoplanets to determining the stars’ rotation rates.

The specific survey design is still being developed by the astronomical community. The NASA-funded study on stellar rotation promises to help inform potential survey strategies.

“We can test which things matter and what we can pull out of the Roman data depending on different survey strategies. So when we actually get the data, we’ll already have a plan,” said Jamie Tayar, assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Florida and the program’s principal investigator.

“We have a lot of the tools already, and we think they can be adapted to Roman,” she added.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.

By Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1940

Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

Explore More 6 min read Why NASA’s Roman Mission Will Study Milky Way’s Flickering Lights Article 5 months ago 5 min read NASA’s Roman to Search for Signs of Dark Matter Clumps Article 3 months ago 6 min read NASA’s Roman Mission Predicted to Find 100,000 Transiting Planets Article 3 years ago Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 LocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms

Categories: NASA

NASA Achieves Milestone for Engines to Power Future Artemis Missions

Thu, 04/04/2024 - 9:59am

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA conducted a full-duration RS-25 hot fire April 3 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, achieving a major milestone for future Artemis flights of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. It marked the final test of a 12-test series to certify production of new RS-25 engines by lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to help power NASA’s SLS rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond, beginning with Artemis V. NASA/Danny Nowlin Crews transport RS-25 developmental engine E0525 to the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Aug. 30, 2023, for the second and final certification test series.NASA/Danny Nowlin A crane lifts developmental engine E0525 onto the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Aug. 30, 2023, in preparation for a series of 12 tests to collect performance data for lead SLS (Space Launch System) engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to produce engines that will help power the SLS rocket, beginning with Artemis V.NASA/Danny Nowlin Crews prepare to place RS-25 engine E0525 on the engine vertical installer on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Aug. 30, 2023. NASA/Danny Nowlin Team members ready RS-25 engine E0525 for full installation on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Aug. 30, 2023, for a second certification test series to collect data for the final RS-25 design certification review.NASA/Danny Nowlin The second – and final – RS-25 certification test series begins Oct. 17, 2023. When the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants mix and ignite, an extremely high temperature exhaust, of up to 6,000-degrees Fahrenheit, mixes with water to form steam that exits the flame deflector and rises into the atmosphere, forming a cloud that subsequently cools.NASA/Danny Nowlin A cloud of steam is visible at NASA’s Stennis Space Center during an Oct. 17, 2023, hot fire that marks the first test in the critical series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to deep space.NASA/Danny Nowlin An RS-25 hot fire at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Nov. 15, 2023, marks the second test of a 12-test engine certification series. The NASA Stennis test team typically fires the certification engine for 500 seconds, the same amount of time engines must fire to help launch the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket to space with astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft. NASA/Danny Nowlin Operators fire the RS-25 engine at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Nov. 15, 2023, up to the 113% power level. The first four Artemis missions are using modified space shuttle main engines that can power up to 109% of their rated level. New RS-25 engines will power up to the 111% level to provide additional thrust, so testing up to the 113% power level provides a margin of operational safety.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA demonstrates a key RS-25 engine capability necessary for flight of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during a hot fire on Nov. 29, 2023. Crews gimbaled, or pivoted, the RS-25 engine around a central point during the almost 11-minute (650 seconds) hot fire on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.NASA/Danny Nowlin The first RS-25 engine test of 2024 takes place on Jan. 17, 2024, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center as crews complete a 500-second hot fire on the Fred Haise Test Stand. NASA/Danny Nowlin A remote field camera offers a head-on view of an RS-25 engine hot fire on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Jan. 23, 2024.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA marks the halfway point of its second RS-25 certification series on Jan. 27, 2024, with the sixth test of the series on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. For each Artemis mission, four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, producing more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. NASA/Danny Nowlin Teams at NASA’s Stennis Space Center install a second production nozzle, left, on Feb. 6, 2024, to gather additional performance data on the RS-25 certification engine at the Fred Haise Test Stand.NASA/Danny Nowlin A new RS-25 engine production nozzle is lifted on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Feb. 6, 2024. Crews used specially adapted procedures and tools to swap out the nozzles with the engine in place on the stand.NASA/Danny Nowlin Operators fire RS-25 engine E0525 for 550 seconds and up to a power level of 113% on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on Feb. 23, 2024. The hot fire test was the first featuring a new engine nozzle, allowing engineers to collect and compare performance data on a second production unit.NASA/Danny Nowlin The third RS-25 hot fire of 600 seconds or more is conducted March 6, 2024, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The full-duration test on the Fred Haise Test Stand marked the ninth in a 12-test certification series for production of new engines to help power NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond, beginning with Artemis V. NASA/Danny Nowlin The test team at NASA’s Stennis Space Center conduct the first RS-25 hot fire of spring 2024 on March 22, powering the engine for a full duration 500 seconds and up to a power level of 113%.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA closes in on a milestone for production of new RS-25 engines to help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond following a successful full duration test on March 27, 2024, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The hot fire marked the 11th test of a 12-test series.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA conducted a full-duration RS-25 hot fire April 3 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.NASA/Danny Nowlin

NASA achieved a major milestone April 3 for production of new RS-25 engines to help power its Artemis campaign to the Moon and beyond with completion of a critical engine certification test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

The 12-test series represents a key step for lead engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to build new RS-25 engines, using modern processes and manufacturing techniques, for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rockets that will power future lunar missions, beginning with Artemis V.

“The conclusion of the certification test series at NASA Stennis is just the beginning for the next generation of RS-25 engines that will help power human spaceflight for Artemis,” said Johnny Heflin, SLS liquid engines manager. “The newly produced engines on future SLS rockets will maintain the high reliability and safe flight operational legacy the RS-25 is known for while enabling more affordable high-performance engines for the next era of deep space exploration.”

Through Artemis, NASA will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon; land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface; and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.

Contributing to that effort, the NASA Stennis test team conducted a full-duration, 500-second hot fire to complete the 12-test series on developmental engine E0525, providing critical performance data for the final RS-25 design certification review. The April 3 hot fire completed a test series that began in October 2023.

RS-25 engines are evolved space shuttle main engines, upgraded with new components to produce the additional power needed to help launch NASA’s SLS rocket. The first four Artemis missions are using modified space shuttle main engines also tested at NASA Stennis. For each Artemis mission, four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of solid rocket boosters, power the SLS rocket, producing more than 8.8 million pounds of total combined thrust at liftoff.

“This was a critical test series, and credit goes to the entire test team for their dedication and unique skills that allowed us to meet the schedule and provide the needed performance data,” said Chip Ellis, project manager for RS-25 testing at NASA Stennis. “The tests conducted at NASA Stennis help ensure the safety of our astronauts and their future mission success. We are proud to be part of the Artemis mission.”

The E0525 developmental engine featured new key components – including a nozzle, hydraulic actuators, flex ducts, and turbopumps – that matched design features of those used during an initial certification test series completed at NASA Stennis last summer.

The two certification test series helped verify the new engine components meet all Artemis flight requirements moving forward. Aerojet Rocketdyne is using techniques such as 3D printing to produce new RS-25 engines more efficiently, while maintaining high performance and reliability. NASA has awarded the company contracts to provide 24 new engines, supporting SLS launches for Artemis V through Artemis IX.

“Successfully completing this rigorous test series is a testament to the outstanding work done by the team to design, implement and test this upgraded version of the RS-25 that reduces the cost by 30% from the space shuttle program,” said Mike Lauer, RS-25 program director at Aerojet Rocketdyne. “We tested the new RS-25 engines to the extreme limits of operation to ensure the engines can operate at a higher power level needed for SLS and complete the mission with margin.”

RS-25 Final Certification Test Series by the Numbers

All RS-25 engines are tested and proven flightworthy at NASA Stennis prior to use on Artemis missions. RS-25 tests at the center are conducted by a diverse team of operators from NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Syncom Space Services, prime contractor for site facilities and operations.

Facebook logo @NASASTENNIS @NASASTENNIS Instagram logo @NASASTENNIS Share Details Last Updated Apr 04, 2024 EditorNASA Stennis CommunicationsContactC. Lacy Thompsoncalvin.l.thompson@nasa.gov / (228) 688-3333LocationStennis Space Center Related Terms

Explore More 3 min read NASA to Continue Testing for New Artemis Moon Rocket Engines Article 1 month ago 2 min read NASA Marks Halfway Point for Artemis Moon Rocket Engine Certification Series Article 2 months ago 3 min read NASA Stennis Continues Preparations for Future Artemis Testing Article 4 months ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics from NASA Stennis

Doing Business with NASA Stennis

About NASA Stennis

Visit NASA Stennis

NASA Stennis Media Resources

Categories: NASA

Frozen in Time

NASA - Breaking News

NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara, Crewmates Return from Space Station

NASA Leadership Spotlights Space Sustainability at Space Symposium

NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition

Astronauts Protect Their Eyes with Eclipse Glasses

NASA’s LRO Finds Photo Op as It Zips Past SKorea’s Danuri Moon Orbiter

Introduction to Spectrum

Lagniappe for April 2024

40 Years Ago: STS-41C, the Solar Max Repair Mission

Hubble Peers at Pair of Closely Interacting Galaxies

NASA Employee Grateful for Opportunities at NASA Stennis

NASA’s NEOWISE Extends Legacy With Decade of Near-Earth Object Data

NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry

Save-The-Date: DoD-NASA Lidar Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM)

Tech Today: Synthetic DNA Diagnoses COVID, Cancer

NASA Wallops to Launch Three Sounding Rockets During Solar Eclipse

Advances in Understanding COPV Structural Life

Harnessing the 2024 Eclipse for Ionospheric Discovery with HamSCI

How NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Measure Ages of Stars

NASA Achieves Milestone for Engines to Power Future Artemis Missions

Calendar

July