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Russia may be planning to put a nuclear weapon in orbit. We have known since the 1960s why that is a bad idea

A powerful solar storm in May 2024 created auroras on Mars and provided scientists with crucial information that could aid future crewed missions to the Red Planet.

Using the tools of computational complexity, researchers have discovered it is impossible to figure out whether certain Super Mario Bros levels can be beaten without playing them, even if you use the world's most powerful supercomputer

Using the tools of computational complexity, researchers have discovered it is impossible to figure out whether certain Super Mario Bros levels can be beaten without playing them, even if you use the world's most powerful supercomputer

At first glance, the universe and night sky seem largely unchanging. The reality is very different, even now, a gas cloud is charging toward the Milky Way Galaxy and is expected to crash into us in 27 million years. A team of astronomers hoping to locate the exact position of the expected impact site have been unsuccessful but have accidentally measured the thickness of the Milky Way! Analysing radio data, they have been able to deduce the thickness of the inner and outer regions and discovered a dramatic difference between the two. 

The team of astronomers from the US National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory were attempting to study the Smith Cloud. This high velocity cloud of hydrogen gas is located in the constellation Aquila at a distance of somewhere between 36,000 and 45,000 light years. Previous studies from the Green Bank Observatory have shown the cloud contains at least 1 million times the mass of the Sun and measures 9,800 light years long by 3,300 light years wide. 

A false-color image of the Smith Cloud made with data from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). New analysis indicates that it is wrapped in a dark matter halo. Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF

The plan was simple enough, to observe the spot where the cloud is currently interacting with the Milky Way. The observation is tricky enough though as the cloud is on the far side of the Milky Way and there is a lot of stuff in the way! The team, led by Toney Minter used the 20m Green Bank Telescope to search for dust and emissions from hydroxyl molecules (composed of a hydrogen and oxygen molecule.)  What the team expected to see was a difference in composition in the region of the Milky Way interacted with the cloud which, should have very little dust and hydroxyl molecules. Clouds in the Milky Way tend to have both so a difference should be detectable. 

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. Credit: Jay Young.

Minter was candidly open about the study joking ‘I knew there was a low probability that I’d find what I was looking for—and I didn’t,. But this is all part of the scientific process. You learn from what you DO and DON’T find.’

Disappointingly the team did not detect any differences in composition but what they did find was equally as interesting. The study revealed information about the Milky Way itself and the structure of its inner regions. Minter and his team had to look through the Milky Way’s inner regions for their study and what they were able to determine was the thickness of the layer of molecules in the inner Galaxy. The information enabled them to deduce the scale height of the clouds of molecular gas in the inner Milky Way. The results showed that the layer of molecules in the inner region measured 330 light years thick while those in the outer parts measured twice as much, around 660 light years. 

The discovery still leaves questions unanswered. The observation certainly shows the difference in thickness between the inner and outer regions but it doesn’t give any clue as to what is driving the difference. Further observations are now required to follow up on this discovery to try and model the underlying process.  Of course one other question remains unanswered and that is the nature and mechanics of the Smith Cloud and how it will impact our own Galaxy. Far from being disappointed though, Minter stated ‘That’s why astronomy is exciting, our knowledge is always evolving’

Source : While Aiming for Massive Gas Cloud, Astronomers Spot Differences in Thickness of Milky Way Galaxy

The post The Inner and Outer Milky Way Aren’t the Same Thickness, and that’s Surprising appeared first on Universe Today.

Many space fans have been following the successful launch of the Boeing Starliner, another commercial organisation aiming to make space more accessible. It successfully reached the International Space Station, delivering Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams into orbit but it wasn’t without a hitch. Three of its thrusters experienced problems and there were ‘five small leaks on the service module.’ The crew and ground teams are working through safety checks of power and habitability. To ensure a safe return of the astronauts NASA has extended the mission by four days to 18th June. 

Boeing Starliner is a reusable (partly) spacecraft designed to transport crews to low Earth orbit. NASA is the lead customer so, once certification has been achieved, will be used to deliver astronauts regularly to the ISS. It consists of a crew capsule that can be used ten times and an expendable service module. Measuring 4.6 metres in diameter it is slightly larger than the Apollo Command module that was a part of the historic Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins mission to the Moon.

The Apollo 10 command/service module nicknamed “Charlie Brown” orbiting the Moon as seen from the lunar module. Credit: NASA

The Boeing Starliner launch marked its first crewed trip into orbit, with the objective of data collection for certification by NASA for regular crewed missions to ISS. The tests are numerous and include; running the spacecraft in minimal power mode (for when docked to ISS), checking suitability to support crew on its own in the event of an emergency, performing habitability studies for a four person crew and a multitude of other system checks. The module has been docked to ISS since 6th June. 

Teething problems for any new module are always expected but when the word ‘leak’ pops up it is most definitely a cause for concern. In the case of Starliner, five small leaks have been detected in the service module helium manifolds. When Starliner launched, the ground team already knew there was one leak in the propulsion system but now, four more have been detected! The flight engineers initially suspected a flaw in a manifold seal or possibly even faulty installation but now, with the four additional leaks they’re trying to understand if there is a common problem.

The leaks are not the only problem that has been experienced. As Starliner approached ISS, it relied upon precise pulses from the 28 reaction control thrusters. During this critical phase of the docking process, five of them failed. More accurately, the spacecraft control software deduced they were not working and deselected them. The first docking window was missed as a result but the crew were able to test and restart four of the five engines allowing them to safely dock. Engineers are still looking into the thruster problem but are confidence it will allow the safe return of the astronauts. 

International Space Station. Credit: NASA

As for the helium leak, flight engineers have examined the leak rate and confirmed that Starliner has sufficient margin to support a return trip to Earth. With Starliner docked to the ISS the manifolds are all closed preventing any helium loss until the return trip which takes just seven hours. Even with the manifolds open and the rate of leak there is sufficient helium to support 70 hours of flight time. 

Ground support teams are continuing to work through the problems and the return plan. They will explore tolerances and possible operational mitigations for the remainder of the mission. As the team depart from the ISS, no earlier than 18th June they will slowly adjust orbit away from the Space Station. A deorbit burn will be completed before entering the atmosphere and landing in south-western United States.

Source : NASA, Boeing Progress on Testing Starliner with Crew at Space Station

The post Starliner Has Five Leaks appeared first on Universe Today.

It sounded like a nightmare scenario: An astronaut commander on the International Space Station in distress and a flight surgeon on Earth stuck in traffic. But it was all a simulation.

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Sols 4212-4214: Gearing up to Drill! This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4210 and captures the block which hosts our potential drill target, “Mammoth Lakes.” NASA/JPL-Caltech

Earth planning date: Monday, June 11, 2024

Curiosity is gearing up to drill! Last week, it encountered a rock with unusual coloration and texture that was just out of reach (you can read about it and see pictures here and here). So that Curiosity could learn more about the geology around these rocks, it “bumped” – completing a 0.7-meter drive (2.3 feet) – to reach a nearby rock that’s big enough to drill! After many discussions over the past week with engineers, geologists, chemists, and more, the team has confirmed this target will be our next potential drill target (pictured). We’ve chosen the target name “Mammoth Lakes,” named for a town in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains with basalt columns, hot springs, and waterfalls.

Today, as the Keeper of the Plan for the Geology and Mineralogy theme group, I was busy recording all the necessary observations into the plan as we prepare to drill. In the first sol, we’ll start with some essential preparatory activities. We’ll use our Dust Removal Tool (DRT) to clean the surface, take detailed images with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture the sedimentary textures, and analyze the composition with the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). These steps are crucial to understand the site’s potential before we commit to drilling.

The second sol is where things heat up. ChemCam will fire up its Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to zap the rock and analyze its makeup. We then follow up this activity with imaging the surrounding area to help us understand the context of “Mammoth Lakes.” Mastcam will devote half an hour to capture a mammoth mosaic of the area, showing a potential contact in Gediz Vallis ridge which is marked by a transition from white stones into a coarser material. To top it off, we’ll use the ChemCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) to get some high-res shots of the sedimentary textures and structures within the surrounding rocks to help us understand the depositional environment when they formed.

Even with all these activities, the environmental science theme group managed to fit in some dust monitoring. Here’s hoping all goes well, and we can make “Mammoth Lakes” our 41st drill hole!

Written by Amelie Roberts, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London

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Background: To protect astronauts from spaceflight health risks like solar radiation and microgravity, scientists develop countermeasures by studying model organisms exposed to the space environment. For the first time, commercial astronaut data from the Inspiration4 (I4) mission has been collected for open-access research in an effort led by Weill Cornell Medicine. ARC’s Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) hosts this data for public use. Facilitated by the OSDR, data from the all-civilian crew enables researchers to validate decades of model organism research and make vital discoveries from biospecimens of humans. The OSDR’s Analysis Working Groups (AWGs), comprised of researchers from around the globe, collaborate to maximize the scientific value of space omics data.

Main Findings: On June 11, 44 scientific publications, including 32 authored by members of the AWG community and the OSDR team, were prominently featured in the Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) package of publications in Nature Press. The collection of articles greatly expands our knowledge of how space travel affects humans by addressing questions about the transcriptomic, epigenomic, cellular, microbiome, and mitochondrial alterations observed during spaceflight. Results and best practices from these articles collectively inform SOMA, which provides a standardized approach to spaceflight related research (Figure).

Impact: The AWG studies featured in these publications leverage the I4 data alongside other OSDR data to pioneer novel discoveries and formulate new hypotheses aimed at uncovering systemic biological responses during spaceflight. Historically, AWG collaborations have led to numerous scientific presentations at conferences, publications in high-impact journals, and the introduction of many new and more diverse researchers into the field.

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KSC is the first NASA Center to offer workplace EV charging, setting the foundation for other NASA Centers. EV chargers are one way the KSC team is embracing the Executive Order goal for Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035.

These charging stations greatly benefit KSC sustainability efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within the first ten months of operation, the charging stations reduced emissions by 40,000 kg (actuals from ChargePoint’s analytics page) with over 3,000 individual charging sessions. 

The project also reduces cost by leveraging a Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act agreement with Florida Power and Light (FP&L). The White House selected this project as a worthy recipient in the “Electrifying the Federal Fleet” category. Congratulations, KSC!

The estimated greenhouse gas emissions caused by the war in Ukraine are equivalent to around 175 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and Ukraine plans to include the associated climate damage in its compensation claim against Russia

The estimated greenhouse gas emissions caused by the war in Ukraine are equivalent to around 175 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, and Ukraine plans to include the associated climate damage in its compensation claim against Russia

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Jennifer Littlejohn, left, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the United States Lilit Makunts, right, look on as Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Minister of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia, signs the Artemis Accords, Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. The Republic of Armenia is the 43rd country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program. Photo Credit NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson welcomed Armenia as the newest nation to sign the Artemis Accords Wednesday during a ceremony with the U.S. State Department at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Armenia joins 42 other countries in a commitment to advancing principles for the safe, transparent, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond.

“NASA is proud to welcome Armenia to the Artemis Accords as we expand the peaceful exploration of space,” said Nelson. “Today’s signing builds on an important foundation. Armenia long has looked to the heavens and helped humanity understand them. As the 10th nation this year to sign the Artemis Accords, we are proving that exploration unites nations like few other things can. We will continue to expand humanity’s reach in the cosmos – together.”   

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Minister of High-Tech Industry, signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Armenia. Lilit Makunts, ambassador of Armenia to the U.S. and Jennifer R. Littlejohn, acting assistant secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Department of State, also participated in the event.

“By signing these accords, Armenia joins a community of nations dedicated to advancing the frontiers of human knowledge and capability in space,” said Hayrapetyan. “Our involvement will not only enhance our technological capabilities, but also inspire a new generation of Armenians to dream big, to innovate and to explore the world and universe.”

The United States and seven other nations were the first to sign the Artemis Accords in 2020, which identified an early set of principles promoting the beneficial use of space for humanity. The accords are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements including the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data. More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years to come.

The commitments of the Artemis Accords, and efforts by the signatories to advance implementation of these principles, support NASA’s Artemis campaign with its partners, as well as for the success of the safe and sustainable exploration activities of the other accords signatories.

For more information about the Artemis Accords, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/

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Faith McKie / Jennifer Dooren
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faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov

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June 11, 2024 – The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) package, the largest-ever collection of data for aerospace medicine and space biology, was publicly released on Tuesday! This monumental achievement was made possible through the collaborative efforts of over 100 institutions from more than 25 countries.

Of the total 44 publications in the SOMA package, 32 of them feature at least one member of our Ames Space Biosciences Division team. This is a remarkable accomplishment and a testament to the dedication and expertise of our Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) team and other Space Biosciences researchers.

Congratulations to our OSDR Team members, Analysis Working Group (AWG) members, and Ames scientists for their historic scientific endeavor and invaluable contribution. Their hard work has brought the Ames Space Biosciences Division to the forefront of aerospace and space biology research.

Their efforts have made an indelible mark on the field, and we are incredibly proud of their work.

Thank you all for your continued dedication and excellence!

Read more about this record-breaking release of open science data.

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25 Min Read The Marshall Star for June 12, 2024 Shining Stars: Marshall Teams Support Successful Crew Flight Test

By Wayne Smith

From preparing for flight readiness, to providing day-of-launch support, to delivering a critical piece of replacement hardware, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center played an integral role in the agency’s crew flight test to the International Space Station.

The Starliner spacecraft – NASA’s Boeing crew flight test (CFT) powered by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket – successfully launched June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The flight test carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the space station to test the spacecraft and its subsystems before NASA certifies the transportation system for rotational missions to the orbiting laboratory for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

Marshall’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) support team successfully completed the crew flight test (CFT) pre-flight test readiness review April 12. Supporting personnel, from left, are Deborah Crane, CCP launch vehicle (LV) chief engineer; Notlim Burgos, CCP LV Boeing lead engineer; Christopher Wakefield, POD Boeing CFT flight lead; Maggie Freeman, CCP LV program analyst; David Gwaltney, CCP interim launch vehicle deputy manager; Joseph Pelfrey, Marshall center director; Paul Crawford, safety and mission assurance; Jennifer Van Den Driessche, CCP LV Boeing certification manager; Kelli Maloney, CCP LV Boeing deputy lead engineer; Larry Leopard, Marshall associate director, technical; Megan Hines, safety and mission assurance; and Chris Chiesa, CCP spacecraft propulsion. NASA/Jason Waggoner

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft successfully docked to the space station June 6. NASA and Boeing teams set a return date of no earlier than June 18 for the crew flight test. The additional time in orbit will allow the space station crews to perform a spacewalk June 13, while engineers complete Starliner systems checkouts. Coverage of the spacewalk begins at 5:30 a.m. on NASA TV.

“It was incredible to witness yet another historic moment in this new era of space exploration,” said Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey. “I am immensely proud of our Marshall team for providing the critical support needed to ensure this test flight is as safe as possible. This is just one example of how Marshall is utilizing our capabilities through strategic partnerships to expand space exploration for all humankind.”

Launch Support

Marshall’s role within the Commercial Crew Program, or CCP, is to support certification that the spacecraft and launch vehicle are ready for launch. The support team performs engineering expertise, particularly for propulsion, as well as program management, safety and mission assurance, and spacecraft support. These efforts ultimately lead up to day-of launch support from the Marshall’s Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC).

Eighteen Marshall team members supported the launch from inside the HOSC. The team’s primary focus was ensuring the cryo-tanking of the liquid propellants and pressurants on the Centaur and the Atlas V booster went as planned. That included monitoring the replacement self-regulating vent valve (SRV), since the valve it replaced caused the launch scrub on the first attempt.

Marshall’s CCP team members support the CFT launch from inside the Huntsville Operations Support Center on June 5. NASA/Nathaniel Stepp

“The replacement SRV performed perfectly after liquid oxygen load into the Centaur tank,” said David Gwaltney, CCP interim Launch Vehicle Systems Office deputy manager. “The other team members ensured the pre-launch testing for the thrust vector control and the engine cooldown purges in preparation for launch were proceeding properly. Everyone was extremely happy when the launch successfully occurred on the third attempt.”

Understandably, the HOSC is always a hive of activity on launch day, resulting in a sense of pride and accomplishment for the support team for their contributions toward successful NASA missions. However, the crew flight test of the Starliner was different.

“Each and every Commercial Crew Program mission is special in its own way, especially as we continue to forge a new era of spaceflight while working with commercial partners,” said Maggie Freeman, a program analyst supporting the Launch Vehicle Systems Office within CCP at Marshall. “The crew flight test launch is particularly special to us because it is the first time we have crew aboard the Atlas V on a CCP mission. We were extremely excited to support launch and watch them safely board the International Space Station.”

Critical Hardware Delivery

Marshall also used the mission to deliver hardware to the space station – a replacement for the Urine Processor Pump Control Processor Assembly (PCPA). A malfunctioning pump necessitated an expedited delivery, NASA officials said June 7, requiring a cargo change for the mission. The PCPA converts the crew’s urine into drinkable water.

Marshall’s CCP team members take time for a group photo from the HOSC following the Starliner launch. From left, Miranda Holton, Sangita Adhikari, Nathaniel Stepp, Lindsey Blair, Deborah Crane, Allen Henning, Spencer Mitchell, Alex Aueron, Preston Beatty, Megan Hines, Peter Jones, Melissa Neel, Brendan Graham, David Gwaltney, Peter Wreschinsky, Aaron Flinchum, Jonathan Carman, and Jimmy Moore.NASA/Nathaniel Stepp

“This component is critical for space station operations and CFT was the first available mission providing an opportunity for the replacement to be delivered,” Freeman said.  “Due to the PCPA being a large piece of hardware, the ISS, Boeing, and CCP teams assessed the cargo swap requirements and exercised tremendous agility in performing a rapid turnaround to ensure that ISS operations would be maintained.”

Pre-Flight Test Readiness Review

The launch would not have happened without the certification efforts supported by the Marshall CCP team. The first Marshall Center Director CFT Pre-Flight Test Readiness Review was successfully completed in April. After the initial launch attempt May 6, the integrated Boeing, ULA, and CCP teams worked diligently to ensure crew safety remained the top priority. A second round of test readiness was scheduled, with the Marshall CCP team conducting a Marshall Center Director CFT delta pre-flight test readiness review in late May.

For Starliner, the Marshall team’s primary focus was on the certification of the spacecraft’s thrusters, which are the propulsion systems used for translational and rotational control of the spacecraft while on-orbit. The thrusters are essential to mission success, ensuring the spacecraft can get from its initial insertion orbit to the space station and then back to Earth with precisely controlled burns.

Boeing contracted with NASA to use the ULA Atlas V rocket to launch Starliner into orbit. Marshall’s Launch Vehicle Propulsion team evaluated the propulsion systems for the rocket to certify they were ready to launch astronauts to the space station.

Marshall team members and NASA astronaut Josh Cassada developed a new procedure to get the Urine Process Assembly functional and returned to the space station on the CFT flight. This procedure validation was performed at Marshall on June 3-4. From left, Brian O’Connor, Curtis Fox, Steve Wilson, Anita Howard, Roy Price, Mike Gooch, Reggie McCafferty, JP Wilson, Camilla Duenas, Josh Cassada, Diana Marroguin, Harper Cox, Arthur Brown, Kai Yeaton, Jimmy Hill, Ben Craigmyle, and Denny Bartlett. Present but not pictured: Chris Brown, Dona Smith, Allen Hash, Shaun Glasgow, Jill Williamson, Josh Clifton, and Chad Berthelson. NASA JSC/Chris Brown

“This includes following any build issues, evaluating any changes to the vehicles, and working with our partners to ensure that the launch vehicle is ready to fly,” said Miranda Holton, CCP Launch Vehicle Propulsion Systems manager.

The HOSC provides engineering and mission operations support for the space station, the Commercial Crew Program, and Artemis missions, as well as science and technology demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within HOSC operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the space station 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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Silver Snoopy Awards Presented to 17 Marshall Team Members

By Jessica Barnett

Seventeen team members at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center joined an elite group within the agency’s ranks June 11 as they accepted an award that’s granted to less than 1% of NASA’s workforce: the Silver Snoopy.

An astronaut presents the award each year to NASA employees and contractors who have gone above and beyond in contributing to the human spaceflight program. It is a symbol of the intent and spirit of Space Flight Awareness and includes a sterling silver Snoopy lapel pin that has flown in space, along with a certificate of appreciation and a commendation letter for the employee, both signed by the astronaut.

Recipients of the 2024 Silver Snoopy Awards at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center pose with their awards and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, center, June 11 in Activities Building 4316. From left, front row, Mark Montgomery, Brian Saunders, Mignon Thame, Jessica Chaffin, Rubins, Stefanie Justice, Ellen Rabenberg, and Vince Vanek; back row, Manish Mehta, Bill Sadowski, Brad Addona, Christopher Buckley, Jonathan Burkholder, Joseph McCollister, Stacey Steele, Michael Fiske, Paul Gradl, and Trey Cate. NASA/Charles Beason

“One of my favorite parts about my job is getting to share and celebrate the accomplishments of the best that NASA has to offer, and helping to give out the Silver Snoopy awards is just that opportunity,” said Larry Leopard, who serves as associate director, technical, at Marshall and joined NASA astronaut Kate Rubins to present the awards. “These employees embody the More to Marshall slogan – words that signify growth, ambition, and continuous improvement. They’re leaders in cultivating a mindset where every one of us is encouraged to think differently, act decisively, and innovate relentlessly.”

“When we are doing highly dangerous activities, like getting on a rocket to the International Space Station or developing programs for Moon to Mars, we rely on everyone in NASA to support that end goal of exploration and safety,” Rubins said. “Our mission success is in their hands, and this is our way of saying thank you for everything they do.”

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins speaks to attendees at Marshall’s 2024 Silver Snoopy Awards Ceremony held June 11 in Activities Building 4316.NASA/Charles Beason

The following team members were honored during the ceremony in Activities Building 4316:

• Brad Addona, Engineering Directorate
• Christopher Buckley, Human Exploration Development and Operations Office
• Jonathan Burkholder, Engineering Directorate
• Trey Cate, Office of Strategic Analysis and Communications
• Jessica Chaffin, Engineering Directorate
• Michael Fiske, Jacobs/ESSCA, Science and Technology Office
• Paul Gradl, Engineering Directorate
• Stefanie Justice, Engineering Directorate
• Joseph McCollister, Space Launch System Program
• Manish Mehta, Engineering Directorate
• Mark Montgomery, Jacobs/ESSCA, Engineering Directorate
• Ellen Rabenberg, Engineering Directorate
• Bill Sadowski, Jacobs/ESSCA, Engineering Directorate
• Brian Saunders, L3Harris
• Stacey Steele, Human Exploration Development and Operations Office
• Mignon Thames, Human Landing System Program
• Vince Vanek, Office of the General Counsel

The Silver Snoopy pins awarded flew on NASA’s SpaceX Cargo Resupply Mission-9. The Silver Snoopy award is one of eight awards presented annually by Space Flight Awareness. Additional information, including eligibility criteria, can be found here. 

Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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Marshall Engineer Kurt Polzin Receives AIAA Honors Award

By Daniel Boyette

Advanced space nuclear propulsion systems are critical to NASA’s Moon to Mars vision. On May 15, one of the individuals at the forefront of those future exploration efforts was honored for his contributions.

Kurt Polzin, chief engineer for the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Engineer of the Year award during its awards gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington.

AIAA Executive Director Daniel Dumbacher, left, and AIAA President Laura McGill, right, present NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Chief Engineer Kurt Polzin with the Engineer of the Year Award at the AIAA Awards Gala on May 15 at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.Photo courtesy of AIAA

“The use of nuclear technologies will become increasingly important as the nation returns humans to the Moon and then goes onward to Mars, and realizing these benefits will take not just a NASA effort, but a national effort,” Polzin told the audience. “It’s a privilege to work with and lead some of the best people in government, industry, and academia, bringing the nation closer to a future where nuclear power and propulsion technologies in space become common. What we do today will enable science missions and human exploration beyond anything humans have ever achieved for current and future generations of scientists and explorers.”

Since 2021, Polzin has overseen NASA’s nuclear propulsion technology development and maturation efforts. He’s also the chief engineer for the agency’s partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, which aims to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion system in space as soon as 2027.

“To live and work on the Moon, we’ll need a power and transportation infrastructure, and nuclear space systems offer key capability benefits over current state-of-art,” said Anthony Calomino, NASA’s Space Nuclear Technologies portfolio manager under the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. “Kurt’s leadership in this journey to mature our space nuclear propulsion technology is what will get us there. We are proud to see him recognized as AIAA’s Engineer of the Year.”

Q&A with Kurt Polzin

Q: What were your emotions when you went to accept the award?

Polzin: The list of those who have previously received this award is long and illustrious, so it is an honor to be nominated for it. Being selected by my peers as the recipient was a very thrilling and humbling experience. Receiving it at the Kennedy Center, in the presence of many aerospace leaders and my wife in the audience, made it a truly unique and memorable experience.

Q: You’ve previously stated that individual awards are really team awards. How has being a member of a team helped you to be successful?

Polzin: Realizing big ideas requires the contributions and expertise of many people across a range of skills and disciplines, and using nuclear technologies in space is about the most significant idea there is. The team we assembled and continue to grow consists of true experts in their disciplines. I constantly rely on them to ensure we are asking the right questions and making investments to advance our capabilities and position the nation for success. 

Polzin delivers his acceptance speech.Photo courtesy of AIAA

Q: What excites you most about the future of space exploration?

Polzin: In my lifetime, we have never been closer to fully realizing the benefits of nuclear power and propulsion in space. We now have the potential to cross the threshold and open a new era where nuclear technologies will bring about truly transformational change in how we approach all aspects of space exploration.

Before his current role, Polzin was the Space Systems Team lead in Marshall’s Advanced Concepts Office. He joined NASA in 2004 as a propulsion research engineer.

Polzin has a doctorate and a master’s in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in New Jersey and a bachelor’s in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Ohio State University in Columbus.

He authored or co-authored over 140 publications, including a recently published monograph, and he holds six U.S. patents. He has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville for many years, teaching graduate-level courses in physics and engineering.

Polzin’s other honors include the AIAA Sustained Service Award, the AIAA Greater Huntsville Section’s Martin Schilling Outstanding Service and Earl Pearce Professional of the Year, and multiple NASA Patent, Special Service, and Group Achievement awards. He is an associate fellow of AIAA and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the SNP Office.

With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and 95 corporate members, AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession.

Learn more about Space Nuclear Propulsion.

Boyette, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office and Marshall’s Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications.

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NASA Announces Student Launch Winners

NASA presented the 2024 Student Launch challenge award winners in a virtual award ceremony June 7. Awards were presented to students from colleges, universities, high schools, middle schools, and informal education groups who designed, built, and launched high-powered, amateur rockets and scientific payloads. In addition to the overall winners, other awards were presented for safety, vehicle design, social media presence, STEM engagement, and more. The Student Launch challenge was held May 3 in Toney, Alabama, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Read more about Student Launch.

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Meet the Simunauts: Ohio State Students to Test Space Food Solutions for NASA

By Savannah Bullard

NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge kicks off its final eight-week demonstration this month, and a new crew is running the show. 

NASA’s partner for the Deep Space Food Challenge, the Methuselah Foundation, has teamed up with Ohio State University in Columbus to facilitate the challenge’s third and final phase. The university is employing current and former students to serve on a “Simunaut” crew to maintain and operate the food production technologies during the demonstration period.  

Ohio State University has hired four student “Simunauts” (simulated analog astronauts) to test NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge technologies at the Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center’s Food Processing Pilot Plant this summer. From left, Charlie Frick, Fuanyi Fobellah, Sakura Sugiyama, and Mehr Un Nisa.Ohio State University

The Deep Space Food Challenge creates novel food production systems that offer safe, nutritious, and delicious food for long-duration human exploration missions while conscious of waste, resources, and labor. The challenge could also benefit humanity by helping address Earth’s food scarcity problems. In this challenge phase, NASA will offer a $1.5 million prize purse to winning U.S. teams after demonstrations are completed during an awards ceremony on August 16. 

“It’s easy for a team with intimate knowledge of their food systems to operate them. This will not be the case for astronauts who potentially use these solutions on deep-space missions,” said Angela Herblet, Program Analyst for NASA’s Centennial Challenges and Challenge Manager for the Deep Space Food Challenge. “Incorporating the Simunauts will add a unique flair that will test the acceptability and ease of use of these systems.” 

The demonstrations will occur inside Ohio State’s Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center’s Food Processing Pilot Plant until July 31. Meet the students behind the demonstrations: 

Fuanyi Fobellah

Fuanyi Fobellah was a picky eater as a child. But, when he began wrestling in school, food became an essential part of his life. Now a senior majoring in food business management at Ohio State, Fobellah combines his love for space exploration with his food, nutrition, business, and innovation knowledge.

Q: How does the work you’re doing this summer fit into the overall NASA mission, and how do your contributions fit into that mission?

A: Food can easily become an overlooked aspect of space travel, but humans can only live and travel to different planets with sustainable food systems. That’s why a challenge focused on developing food systems for space travel is so vital to NASA’s mission.

Sakura Sugiyama

Sakura Sugiyama’s childhood hobbies were cooking and baking, and with two scientists as parents, the Deep Space Food Challenge piqued the interest of the recent Ohio State graduate. Sugiyama obtained her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology and plans to work in research and development in the food industry. 

Q: Why do you think this work is important for the future of civilization? 

A: Food variety, sustainability, energy efficiency – all of those are issues we face here on Earth due to climate change, increasing populations, and food insecurity. I hope that solving those issues in space will also help solve those problems on Earth.

Charlie Frick

A fifth-year student studying animal sciences, Charlie Frick, found his passion while growing up on his family’s farm. While finishing his degree, he hopes the Deep Space Food Challenge will allow him to use his agriculture and animal science knowledge to support space technology, nutrition, and food regeneration.

Q: Now that you’re familiar with NASA’s public prize competitions, how do you think they benefit the future of human space exploration? 

A: These challenges help a lot because sometimes you need that third person who doesn’t have that background but can come up with something to help. These challenges are critical in helping bring about technologies that otherwise would never exist.

Mehir Un Nisa

Mehir Un Nisa is a graduate student in Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology. As a kid who dreamed about working at NASA, Un Nisa is using her expertise in food science to make that dream a reality and get a foot in the door of the agency’s food and nutrition programs. 

Q: How does it feel to work alongside NASA on a project like this? 

A: Working with NASA empowers me as a researcher, and it makes me feel good that food science has a part in that big name. It’s a dream come true for me. 

The Deep Space Food Challenge, a NASA Centennial Challenge, is a coordinated effort between NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Subject matter experts at Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center support the competition. NASA’s Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed at Marshall Space Flight Center. The Methuselah Foundation, in partnership with NASA, oversees the United States and international competitors.

Learn more about the Deep Space Food Challenge. 

Bullard, an Aeyon/MTS employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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NASA, Global Astronomers Await Rare Nova Explosion

By Rick Smith

Around the world this summer, professional and amateur astronomers alike will be fixed on one small constellation deep in the night sky. But it’s not the seven stars of Corona Borealis, the “Northern Crown,” that have sparked such fascination.

It’s a dark spot among them where an impending nova event – so bright it will be visible on Earth with the naked eye – is poised to occur.

A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. The red giant is a large sphere in shades of red, orange, and white, with the side facing the white dwarf the lightest shades. The white dwarf is hidden in a bright glow of white and yellows, which represent an accretion disk around the star. A stream of material, shown as a diffuse cloud of red, flows from the red giant to the white dwarf. When the red giant moves behind the white dwarf, a nova explosion on the white dwarf ignites, creating a ball of ejected nova material shown in pale orange. After the fog of material clears, a small white spot remains, indicating that the white dwarf has survived the explosion.NASA

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there, giving young people a cosmic event they can observe for themselves, ask their own questions, and collect their own data,” said Dr. Rebekah Hounsell, an assistant research scientist specializing in nova events at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’ll fuel the next generation of scientists.”

T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a dead star with a mass comparable to that of our Sun – and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbor.

The hydrogen from the red giant accretes on the surface of the white dwarf, causing a buildup of pressure and heat. Eventually, it triggers a thermonuclear explosion big enough to blast away that accreted material. For T CrB, that event appears to reoccur, on average, every 80 years.

Don’t confuse a nova with a supernova, a final, titanic explosion that destroys some dying stars, Hounsell said. In a nova event, the dwarf star remains intact, sending the accumulated material hurtling into space in a blinding flash. The cycle typically repeats itself over time, a process which can carry on for tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

“There are a few recurrent novae with very short cycles, but typically, we don’t often see a repeated outburst in a human lifetime, and rarely one so relatively close to our own system,” Hounsell said. “It’s incredibly exciting to have this front-row seat.”

The first recorded sighting of the T CrB nova was more than 800 years ago, in autumn 1217, when a man named Burchard, abbot of Ursberg, Germany, noted his observance of “a faint star that for a time shone with great light.”

The T CrB nova was last seen from Earth in 1946. Its behavior over the past decade appears strikingly similar to observed behavior in a similar timeframe leading up to the 1946 eruption. If the pattern continues, some researchers say, the nova event could occur by September 2024.

What should stargazers look for? The Northern Crown is a horseshoe-shaped curve of stars west of the Hercules constellation, ideally spotted on clear nights. It can be identified by locating the two brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere – Arcturus and Vega – and tracking a straight line from one to the other, which will lead skywatchers to Hercules and the Corona Borealis.

A conceptual image of how to find Hercules and the “Northern Crown” in the night sky, created using planetarium software. Look up after sunset during summer months to find Hercules, then scan between Vega and Arcturus, where the distinct pattern of Corona Borealis may be identified.NASA

The outburst will be brief. Once it erupts, it will be visible to the naked eye for a little less than a week – but Hounsell is confident it will be quite a sight to see.

Dr. Elizabeth Hays, chief of Goddard’s Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, agreed. She said part of the fun in preparing to observe the event is seeing the enthusiasm among amateur stargazers, whose passion for extreme space phenomena has helped sustain a long and mutually rewarding partnership with NASA.

“Citizen scientists and space enthusiasts are always looking for those strong, bright signals that identify nova events and other phenomena,” Hays said. “Using social media and email, they’ll send out instant alerts, and the flag goes up. We’re counting on that global community interaction again with T CrB.”

Hays is the project scientist for NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which has made gamma-ray observations from low Earth orbit since 2008. Fermi is poised to observe T CrB when the nova eruption is detected, along with other space-based missions including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer), NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), and the European Space Agency’s INTEGRAL (Extreme Universe Surveyor). Numerous ground-based radio telescopes and optical imagers, including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array in Mexico, also will take part. Collectively, the various telescopes and instruments will capture data across the visible and non-visible light spectrum.

“We’ll observe the nova event at its peak and through its decline, as the visible energy of the outburst fades,” Hounsell said. “But it’s equally critical to obtain data during the early rise to eruption – so the data collected by those avid citizen scientists on the lookout now for the nova will contribute dramatically to our findings.”

For astrophysics researchers, that promises a rare opportunity to shed new light on the structure and dynamics of recurring stellar explosions like this one.

“Typically, nova events are so faint and far away that it’s hard to clearly identify where the erupting energy is concentrated,” Hays said. “This one will be really close, with a lot of eyes on it, studying the various wavelengths and hopefully giving us data to start unlocking the structure and specific processes involved. We can’t wait to get the full picture of what’s going on.”

Some of those eyes will be very new. Gamma-ray imagers didn’t exist the last time T CrB erupted in 1946, and IXPE’s polarization capability – which identifies the organization and alignment of electromagnetic waves to determine the structure and internal processes of high-energy phenomena – is also a brand-new tool in X-ray astronomy. Combining their data could offer unprecedented insight into the lifecycles of binary systems and the waning but powerful stellar processes that fuel them.

Learn more about NASA astrophysics.

Smith, an Aeyon/MTS employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.

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‘Super’ Star Cluster Shines in New Look from NASA’s Chandra

Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with other NASA telescopes, is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced.

This is the first data to be publicly released from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS, led by astronomers from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo. As part of EWOCS, Chandra observed Westerlund 1 for about 12 days in total.

An image of the Westerlund 1 star cluster and the surrounding region, as detected in X-ray and optical light. The black canvas of space is peppered with colored dots of light of various sizes, mostly in shades of red, green, blue, and white.X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/M. Guarcello et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare

Currently, only a handful of stars form in our galaxy each year, but in the past the situation was different. The Milky Way used to produce many more stars, likely hitting its peak of churning out dozens or hundreds of stars per year about 10 billion years ago and then gradually declining ever since. Astronomers think that most of this star formation took place in massive clusters of stars, known as “super star clusters,” like Westerlund 1. These are young clusters of stars that contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the Sun. Westerlund 1 is between about 3 million and 5 million years old.

This new image shows the new deep Chandra data along with previously released data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The X-rays detected by Chandra show young stars (mostly represented as white and pink) as well as diffuse heated gas throughout the cluster (colored pink, green, and blue, in order of increasing temperatures for the gas). Many of the stars picked up by Hubble appear as yellow and blue dots.

Only a few super star clusters still exist in our galaxy, but they offer important clues about this earlier era when most of our galaxy’s stars formed. Westerlund 1 is the biggest of these remaining super star clusters in the Milky Way and contains a mass between 50,000 and 100,000 Suns. It is also the closest super star cluster to Earth at about 13,000 light-years.

These qualities make Westerlund 1 an excellent target for studying the impact of a super star cluster’s environment on the formation process of stars and planets as well as the evolution of stars over a broad range of masses.

This new deep Chandra dataset of Westerlund 1 has more than tripled the number of X-ray sources known in the cluster. Before the EWOCS project, Chandra had detected 1,721 sources in Westerlund 1. The EWOCS data found almost 6,000 X-ray sources, including fainter stars with lower masses than the Sun. This gives astronomers a new population to study.

One revelation is that 1,075 stars detected by Chandra are squeezed into the middle of Westerlund 1 within four light-years of the cluster’s center. For a sense of how crowded this is, four light-years is about the distance between the Sun and the next closest star to Earth.

The diffuse emission seen in the EWOCS data represents the first detection of a halo of hot gas surrounding the center of Westerlund 1, which astronomers think will be crucial in assessing the cluster’s formation and evolution, and giving a more precise estimate of its mass.

A paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, led by Mario Guarcello from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo, discusses the survey and the first results. Follow-up papers will discuss more about the results, including detailed studies of the brightest X-ray sources. This future work will analyze other EWOCS observations, involving NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer).

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

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NASA Awards Contract for Safety and Mission Assurance Services

NASA has selected KBR Wyle Services LLC, of Fulton, Maryland, to provide safety and mission assurance services to the agency.

The Safety and Mission Assurance, Audits, Assessments, and Analysis (SA3) Services contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision and a maximum potential value of approximately $75.3 million. The three-year base performance period of this contract begins August 1, 2024, and is followed by a two-year option, which would end July 31, 2029.

The SA3 contract will provide safety and mission assurance services to NASA Headquarters and other NASA centers, programs, projects, and activities through the NASA Safety Center. These services include, but aren’t limited to, audit/assessment/analysis support, safety assessments and hazard analysis, reliability and maintainability analysis, risk analysis and management, supply chain data management and analytics, software safety and assurance, training and outreach, quality engineering and assurance, and information systems support.

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Two NASA astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station today (June 13), and you can watch the action live.

Most neutron stars spin rapidly, completing a rotation in seconds or even a fraction of a second. But astronomers have found one that takes its time, completing a rotation in 54 minutes. What compels this odd object to spin so slowly?

When a massive supergiant star explodes as a supernova, it leaves a collapsed core behind. The extreme pressure forces protons and electrons to combine into neutrons. Since they’re made almost entirely of neutrons, we call them neutron stars. These stellar remnants are extremely small and extremely dense. Only black holes have greater density.

Due to the conservation of angular momentum, neutron stars start to spin rapidly, often rotating as fast as several hundred times per second. Astronomers have found more than 3,000 radio-emitting neutron stars, and out of all of them, only a very small number rotate slowly.

We usually detect neutron stars by their electromagnetic radiation and call them pulsars. Astrophysicists also call the ones with slow rotations long-period radio transients. There’s uncertainty around their slow rotation speeds and if they’re even neutron stars, and the most recently discovered one isn’t helping remove the uncertainty.

In new research in Nature Astronomy, a team of researchers presented the discovery of ASKAP J1935+2148, a long-period radio transient about 16,000 light-years away. The paper is “An emission-state-switching radio transient with a 54-minute period.” The lead author is Dr. Manisha Caleb from the University of Sydney in Australia.

“Long-period radio transients are an emerging class of extreme astrophysical events of which only three are known,” the paper’s authors write. “These objects emit highly polarized, coherent pulses of typically a few tens of seconds duration, and minutes to approximately hour-long periods.”

Researchers have proposed different explanations for these long-period objects, including highly-magnetic white dwarfs and highly-magnetic neutron stars called magnetars. But the research community hasn’t reached a consensus.

ASKAP J1935+2148 has an extremely long period of 53.8 minutes and three distinct emission states. Its bright pulse state lasts between 10 and 50 seconds, and its weaker pulse state, 26 times dimmer, lasts about 370 milliseconds. It also exhibits what’s called a “quenched state” with no pulses.

This image took six hours to acquire and shows the new object close to the magnetar SGR 1935+2154. The six hours of observations revealed the object’s long-period emissions. Image Credit: Caleb, M., Lenc, E., Kaplan, D.L. et al. An emission-state-switching radio transient with a 54-minute period. Nat Astron (2024). CC 4.0

Astronomers discovered the puzzling object accidentally while observing an unrelated gamma-ray burst with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope in October 2022. The observations revealed ASKAP J1935+2148’s bright pulses of radio emissions. In about six hours of observations, the object emitted four bright pulses lasting from 10 to 50 seconds. Light curve inspections and follow-up observations with the MeerKAT radiotelescope revealed the object’s entire pulsing pattern.

“This discovery relied on the combination of the complementary capabilities of ASKAP and MeerKAT telescopes as well as the ability to search for these objects on timescales of minutes while studying how their emission changes from second to second! Such synergies are allowing us to shed new light on how these compact objects evolve,” said Dr. Kaustubh Rajwade, paper co-author and an Astronomer at the University of Oxford.

The three emission states, each different from the others, are puzzling. The researchers needed to verify that each signal from each state came from the same point in the sky. The fact that each signal had the same time of arrival (TOA), as determined by both ASKAP and MeerKAT observations, indicates a single source.

“What is intriguing is how this object displays three distinct emission states, each with properties entirely dissimilar from the others. The MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa played a crucial role in distinguishing between these states. If the signals didn’t arise from the same point in the sky, we would not have believed it to be the same object producing these different signals.”

ASKAP detected the object’s strong, bright pulse mode, while MeerKAT detected its fainter, weak pulse mode. Both telescopes detected the quiescent mode.

This figure from the research shows the light curves detected by ASKAP and MeerKAT. A critical part of the results is that the ASKAP and MeerKAT arrived in phase with one another. Image Credit: Caleb, M., Lenc, E., Kaplan, D.L. et al. An emission-state-switching radio transient with a 54-minute period. Nat Astron (2024). CC 4.0

“In the study of radio-emitting neutron stars, we are used to extremes, but this discovery of a compact star spinning so slowly and still emitting radio waves was unexpected,” said paper co-author Ben Stappers, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. “It is demonstrating that pushing the boundaries of our search space with this new generation of radio telescopes will reveal surprises that challenge our understanding.”

The nature of the emissions and the rate of change of the spin periods strongly suggest that ASKAP J1935+2148 is a neutron star. However, the researchers say they can’t rule out a highly magnetized white dwarf. Since astrophysicists think that white dwarfs become highly magnetized as binaries, and there are no other white dwarfs nearby, the neutron star explanation is more likely.

The object’s radius also doesn’t conform to our understanding of white dwarfs. “However, the implied radius is ~0.8? solar radii, leading us to conclude that this source cannot be expected by standard white-dwarf models,” the researchers explain. White dwarfs are only slightly larger than Earth, which seems to eliminate one as the potential source.

Only follow-up observations and more dedicated studies can reveal the object’s true nature. Either way, whether it’s a white dwarf or a neutron star, the object will open another window into the extreme physics of either type of object. Our understanding of both objects is only decades old, so there’s bound to be lots left to discover.

“It is important that we probe this hitherto unexplored region of the neutron-star parameter space to get a complete picture of the evolution of neutron stars, and this may be an important source to do so,” the authors conclude.

The post Astronomers Find the Slowest-Spinning Neutron Star Ever appeared first on Universe Today.

Credits: NASA

NASA selects Raytheon Company to provide three instruments and related services, with an option for one additional instrument, in support of the Landsat Next mission based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The contract includes a cost-plus-award-fee base period and a cost-plus-fixed-fee option period with a total value of $506.7 million. The contractor will provide the design, engineering analyses, algorithms, fabrication, testing, delivery, and support for the Landsat Next Instruments. The work will be primarily performed at the contractor’s facilities in El Segundo, California.

The Landsat Next mission is a major component of NASA’s Earth science portfolio, advancing Earth observing technologies, science, and applications. Landsat Next will continue the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, while transforming the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to the public and other users across governments, industry, and academia.

With Landsat Next, NASA is moving from a single Landsat spacecraft to developing a constellation of three smaller satellites able to deliver two to three times the temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution of previous Landsat satellites.

The new 26-band super-spectral Landsat Next constellation will enhance existing Landsat applications, building upon the 50-year Landsat legacy, improving life on Earth through climate and technological advancements, and unlocking new applications that support water quality and aquatic health assessments, crop production and soil conservation, forest management and monitoring, climate and snow dynamics research, and mineral mapping.

The Landsat Next mission is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to advance Earth observing technologies, science, and applications under the Sustainable Land Imaging Program to more effectively map, monitor, and manage America’s land, water, and coastal resources.

For information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/

-end-

Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov

Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
443-858-1779
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov

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Details Last Updated Jun 12, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

• Landsat
• Earth
• Earth Observatory
• Goddard Space Flight Center