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Both the Hubble Telescope and TESS exoplanet hunter went into safe mode on April 23. Hubble is back on, but TESS remains off.

2 Min Read NASA Partner Zooniverse Receives White House Open Science Award

Selection of Zooniverse project avatars.

Credits:
Zooniverse

Congrats to NASA partner Zooniverse for being named winners in the White House’s Year of Open Science Recognition Challenge!

The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) designated 2023 as the year of Open Science, and invited innovators to submit stories of how they’ve advanced equitable open science. OSTP and its federal partners selected five challenge project submissions as “Champions of Open Science” including Zooniverse.

Since 2007, Zooniverse has become the largest online open data platform for people-powered research, engaging more than 2.7 million people. NASA Citizen Science projects hosted on the Zooniverse platform include Cloudspotting on Mars, Dark Energy Explorers, Floating Forests, Are We Alone In the Universe?, Disk Detective, Solar Active Region Spotter, Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, Active Asteroids, Daily Minor Planet, Solar Jet Hunter, Jovian Vortex Hunter, Redshift Wrangler, Burst Chaser and Planet Hunters TESS.

“With Zooniverse we have classified more galaxies than we ever thought possible!” said Lindsay House, scientist on the Dark Energy Explorers project.  “Zooniverse participants have been vital in helping us map the universe.” 

Find out more, and join the fun at Zooniverse.org!

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Last Updated

May 02, 2024

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• Astrophysics
• Citizen Science
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• Heliophysics
• NASA Open Source Software
• Planetary Science

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Brandon Aguiar, a graduate student at Florida International University, works to prepare a slurry containing a lunar regolith simulant, graphene nanoplatelets, and base resin for use in FIU’s ongoing study of the enhanced electrical conductivity of additively manufactured lunar regolith components involving graphene nanoplatelets. Credit: Florida International University

NASA has awarded nearly $1.5 million to academic, non-profit, and business organizations to advance state-of-the-art technology that will play a key role in the agency’s return to the Moon under Artemis, as well as future missions to Mars.

Twenty-four projects from 21 organizations have been awarded under NASA’s Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notices, or CANs. The awardees also will receive assistance from propulsion, space transportation, and science experts at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

“The Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notice enables NASA to collaboratively work with U.S. industry and academia to develop needed technologies,” said Daniel O’Neil, manager, NASA Marshall’s Technology Development Dual-Use CAN Program. “Products from these cooperative agreements support the closure of identified technology gaps and enable the development of components and systems for NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture.”

These innovative projects include ways to use lunar regolith for construction on the Moon’s surface, using smartphone video guidance sensors to fly robots on the International Space Station, identifying new battery materials, and improving a neutrino particle detector.

The following is a complete list of awardees:

• Auburn University in Alabama
• Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida
• Florida International University in Miami
• Fronius USA in Portage, Indiana
• Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories in Tullahoma, Tennessee
• Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge
• Morgan State University in Baltimore
• Nanoracks (Voyager Space) in Houston
• Northwestern University in Chicago
• Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
• Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio
• Tethon 3D in Omaha, Nebraska
• University of Alabama in Huntsville
• University of California in Irvine
• University of Florida in Gainesville
• University of Illinois in Chicago
• University of North Texas in Denton
• University of Tennessee in Knoxville
• University of Tennessee Space Institute
• Victory Solutions in Huntsville, Alabama
• Wichita State University in Kansas

The Florida Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of Alabama were awarded funding for two projects each.

Funding was available for organizations focused on supporting entrepreneurial research and innovation ideas that could advance the commercial space sector and benefit future NASA missions.

Applications are now open for the 2024 solicitation cycle.

To learn more about NASA’s missions, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/

-end-

Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
James.j.russell@nasa.gov

Ramon Osorio 
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 
256-544-0034  
ramon.j.osorio@nasa.gov

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Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

• Mars
• Marshall Space Flight Center
• Opportunities For Students to Get Involved
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NASA's PREFIRE mission will deploy a pair of satellites from twin launches aboard Rocket Lab's Electron rockets that will contribute to climate change studies in the Arctic and Antarctica.

A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face

A male Sumatran orangutan chewed the leaves of a plant used in Indonesian traditional medicine and placed them on a wound on his face

Video: 00:02:59

Last week, Ariane 6’s central core – the main body of the rocket – was stood tall at the launch zone and connected to its two solid-fuel boosters. This exciting moment means only one thing: it’s the start of the first launch campaign.

The main stage and upper stage make up the core stage, and they were autonomously driven at 3 km/h from the rocket assembly building to the launch pad, 800 m away. Then lifted by a crane, the Ariane 6 core was stood upright on the launch table.

The two boosters were transported to the launch pad on a specially designed truck and then configured with the rocket body, now holding it upright.

Ariane 6 is due to launch in summer 2024. The heavy-lift rocket will inaugurate a new era of autonomous European space transportation, powering Europe into space to realise its ambitions on the world stage. It will lift off from a modern launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying with it not just a variety of spacecraft, but also European goals for prosperity and autonomy.

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites on Thursday (May 2), on the second half of a planned spaceflight doubleheader.

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A collage of artist concepts highlighting the novel approaches proposed by the 2024 NIAC Phase II awardees for possible future missions.Credits: NASA, From left: Edward Balaban, Mary Knapp, Mahmooda Sultana, Brianna Clements, Ethan Schaler

NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) has selected six visionary concept studies for additional funding and development. Each study has already completed the initial NIAC phase, showing their futuristic ideas – like a lunar railway system and fluid-based telescopes – may provide fresh perspectives and approaches as NASA explores the unknown in space.

The NIAC Phase II conceptual studies will receive up to $600,000 to continue working over the next two years to address key remaining technical and budget hurdles and pave their development path forward. When Phase II is complete, these studies could advance to the final NIAC phase, earning additional funding and development consideration toward becoming a future aerospace mission.

“These diverse, science fiction-like concepts represent a fantastic class of Phase II studies,” said John Nelson, NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our NIAC fellows never cease to amaze and inspire, and this class definitely gives NASA a lot to think about in terms of what’s possible in the future.”  The six concepts chosen for 2024 NIAC Phase II awards are:

Fluidic Telescope (FLUTE): Enabling the Next Generation of Large Space Observatories would create a large optical observatory in space using fluidic shaping of ionic liquids. These in-space observatories could potentially help investigate NASA’s highest priority astrophysics targets, including Earth-like exoplanets, first-generation stars, and young galaxies. The FLUTE study is led by Edward Balaban from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

Pulsed Plasma Rocket: Shielded, Fast Transits for Humans to Mars is an innovative propulsion system that relies on using fission-generated packets of plasma for thrust. This innovative system could significantly reduce travel times between Earth and any destination in the solar system.  This study is led by Brianna Clements with Howe Industries in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Great Observatory for Long Wavelengths (GO-LoW) could change the way NASA conducts astronomy. This mega constellation low-frequency radio telescope uses thousands of autonomous SmallSats capable of measuring the magnetic fields emitted from exoplanets and the cosmic dark ages. GO-LoW is led by Mary Knapp with MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Radioisotope Thermoradiative Cell Power Generator is investigating new in-space power sources, potentially operating at higher efficiencies than NASA legacy power generators. This technology could enable small exploration and science spacecraft in the future that are unable to carry bulky solar or nuclear power systems. This power generation concept study is from Stephen Polly at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.

FLOAT: Flexible Levitation on a Track would be a lunar railway system, providing reliable, autonomous, and efficient payload transport on the Moon. This rail system could support daily operations of a sustainable lunar base as soon as the 2030s. Ethan Schaler leads FLOAT at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

ScienceCraft for Outer Planet Exploration distributes Quantum Dot-based sensors throughout the surface of a solar sail, enabling it to become an innovative imager. Quantum physics would allow NASA to take scientific measurements through studying how the dots absorb light. By leveraging the solar sail’s area, it allows lighter, more cost-effective spacecraft to carry imagers across the solar system. ScienceCraft is led by NASA’s Mahmooda Sultana at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funds the NIAC program, as it is responsible for developing the agency’s new cross-cutting technologies and capabilities to achieve its current and future missions.

To learn more about NIAC and the 2024 Phase II studies, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/stmd-the-nasa-innovative-advanced-concepts-niac/

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Details Last Updated May 02, 2024 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms

• Space Technology Mission Directorate
• Ames Research Center
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• NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program

WASP-12b is a planet on a date with a fiery destiny, doomed to plunge into its sun-like star. Scientists may finally know why some hot Jupiters eventually death spiral into their stars.

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NASA's inspector general writes that the Artemis 1 test flight of the Orion spacecraft revealed anomalies that "pose significant risks to the safety of the crew."

Sixty-one years after it stood ready to send NASA's last one-man mission into orbit, the Mercury-Atlas 9 rocket is standing again. A replica is on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force.

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Levels of protection measles provided by the MMR jab fall by a small amount every year, according to mathematical modelling

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Famine is affecting an increasing number of people in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and elsewhere around the globe, and its development follows a clear pattern

An analysis of the 2021 German federal elections has found that for every 200,000 times a politician's social media adverts were viewed, their vote share increased by 2.1 per cent - a potentially low-cost way of swinging elections

An analysis of the 2021 German federal elections has found that for every 200,000 times a politician's social media adverts were viewed, their vote share increased by 2.1 per cent - a potentially low-cost way of swinging elections