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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.

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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

The Holy Stone HS360S is a budget sub-250 g drone with lots to like but weak camera performance.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three people, including the first female Belarusian in space, landed in Kazakhstan early this morning (April 6).

Since it began operations in July 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has fulfilled many scientific objectives. In addition to probing the depths of the Universe in search of galaxies that formed shortly after the Big Bang, it has also provided the clearest and most detailed images of nearby galaxies. In the process, Webb has provided new insight into the processes through which galaxies form and evolve over billions of years. This includes galaxies like Messier 82 (M82), a “starburst galaxy” located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

Also known as the “Cigar Galaxy” because of its distinctive shape, M82 is a rather compact galaxy with a very high star formation rate. Roughly five times that of the Milky Way, this is why the core region of M82 is over 100 times as bright as the Milky Way’s. Combined with the gas and dust that naturally obscures visible light, this makes examining M82’s core region difficult. Using the extreme sensitivity of Webb‘s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), a team led by the University of Maryland observed the central region of this starburst galaxy to examine the physical conditions that give rise to new stars.

The team was led by Alberto Bollato, an astronomy professor at the University of Maryland and a researcher with the Joint Space-Science Institute (JSSI). He was joined by researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Ames, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC-Caltech) and multiple universities, institutes, and observatories. Their findings are described in a paper accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Annotated image of the starburst galaxy Messier 82 captured by Hubble (left) and Webb’s NIRCam (right). Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Alberto Bolatto (UMD)

Their observations were part of a Cycle 1 General Observations (GO) project – for which Bollato is the Principal Investigator (PI) – that used NIRCam data to examine the “prototypical starbursts” NGC 253 and M82 and their “cool” galactic winds. Such galaxies remain a source of fascination for astronomers because of what they can reveal about the birth of new stars in the early Universe. Starbursts are galaxies that experience rapid and efficient star formation, a phase that most galaxies went through during the early history of the Universe (ca. 10 billion years ago). Studying early galaxies in this phase is challenging due to the distances involved.

Fortunately, starburst galaxies like NGC 253 and M82 are relatively close to the Milky Way. While these galaxies have been observed before, Webb’s extreme sensitivity in the near-infrared spectrum provided the most detailed look to date. Moreover, the NIRCam observations were made using an instrument mode that prevented the galaxy’s intense brightness from overwhelming the instrument. The resulting images revealed details that have been historically obscured, such as dark brown tendrils of heavy dust that contained concentrations of iron (visible in the image as green specks).

These consist largely of supernova remnants, while small patches of red are clouds of molecular hydrogen lit up by young stars nearby. Said Rebecca Levy, second author of the study at the University of Arizona in Tucson, in a NASA press release, “This image shows the power of Webb. Every single white dot in this image is either a star or a star cluster. We can start to distinguish all of these tiny point sources, which enables us to acquire an accurate count of all the star clusters in this galaxy.”

Another key detail captured in the images is the “galactic wind” rushing out from the core, which was visible at longer infrared wavelengths. This wind is caused by the rapid rate of star formation and subsequent supernovae and has a significant influence on the surrounding environment. Studying this wind was a major objective of the project (GO 1701), which aimed to investigate how these winds interact with cold and hot material. By a central region of M82, the team was able to examine where the wind originates and the impact it has on surrounding material.

The Cigar Galaxy (M82), a starburst galaxy with high star production. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

The team was surprised by the way Webb’s NIRCam was able to trace the structure of the galactic wind via emission spectra from very small dust grains known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – a chemical produced when coal, wood, gasoline, and tobacco are burned. These emissions highlighted the galactic wind’s fine structure, which appeared as red filaments flowing from above and below the galaxy’s disk. Another surprise was the structure of the PAH emission, which was similar to that of the hot ionized gas in the wind. As Bollato explained:

“M82 has garnered a variety of observations over the years because it can be considered as the prototypical starburst galaxy. Both NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have observed this target. With Webb’s size and resolution, we can look at this star-forming galaxy and see all of this beautiful, new detail. It was unexpected to see the PAH emission resemble ionized gas. PAHs are not supposed to live very long when exposed to such a strong radiation field, so perhaps they are being replenished all the time. It challenges our theories and shows us that further investigation is required.”

The team hopes to further investigate the questions these findings raise using Webb data, which will include spectroscopic observations made using the Near-infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and large-scale images of the galaxy and wind. This data will help astronomers obtain accurate ages for the star clusters and determine how long each phase of star formation lasts in starburst galaxies. As always, this information could shed light on how similar phases took place in the early Universe, helping shape galaxies like ours. As Bollato summarized:

“Webb’s observation of M82, a target closer to us, is a reminder that the telescope excels at studying galaxies at all distances. In addition to looking at young, high-redshift galaxies, we can look at targets closer to home to gather insight into the processes that are happening here – events that also occurred in the early universe.”

Further Reading: Webb Space Telescope, MPIA

The post Webb Sees a Galaxy Awash in Star Formation appeared first on Universe Today.

Earthquakes in the Northeast are usually too small to feel, but larger temblors like the 4.8 magnitude quake in New Jersey aren’t unheard of

Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein calculated the entropy of a black hole in the 1970s, but it took physicists until now to figure out the quantum effects that make the formula work

Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein calculated the entropy of a black hole in the 1970s, but it took physicists until now to figure out the quantum effects that make the formula work

It's already rare for a single location to experience a total solar eclipse, but on April 8, Carbondale, Illinois will see its second one within a decade.

The region near the Milky Way’s centre is dominated by the supermassive black hole that resides there. Sagittarius A*’s overwhelming gravity creates a chaotic region where tightly packed, high-speed stars crash into one another like cars in a demolition derby.

These collisions and glancing blows change the stars forever. Some become strange, stripped-down, low-mass stars, while others gain new life.

The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole (SMBH) is called Sagittarius A* (Sgr. A*). Sgr. A* is about four million times more massive than the Sun. With that much mass, the much smaller stars nearby are easily affected by the black hole’s powerful gravity and are accelerated to rapid velocities.

In the inner 0.1 parsec, or about one-third of a light-year, stars travel thousands of kilometres per second. Outside that region, the pace is much more sedate. Stars beyond 0.1 parsec travel at hundreds of km/s.

But it’s not only the speed that drives the collisions. The region is also tightly packed with stars into what astronomers call a nuclear star cluster (NSC.) The combination of high speed and high stellar density creates a region where stars are bound to collide.

“They whack into each other and keep going.”

Sanaea Rose, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA

New research led by Northwestern University simulated stars orbiting Sgr. A* to understand the interactions and collisions and their results. It’s titled “Stellar Collisions in the Galactic Center: Massive Stars, Collision Remnants, and Missing Red Giants.” The lead author is Sanaea C. Rose from UCLA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. The research was also recently presented at the American Physical Society’s April meeting.

The researchers simulated a population of 1,000 stars embedded in the NSC. The stars ranged from 0.5 to 100 solar masses, but in practice, the upper limit was about 30 solar masses due to the initial mass function. Other characteristics, like orbital eccentricities, were varied to ensure that the sample caught stars at different distances from Sgr. A*. That’s necessary to build a solid understanding of the stellar collisions.

“The region around the central black hole is dense with stars moving at extremely high speeds,” said lead author Rose. “It’s a bit like running through an incredibly crowded subway station in New York City during rush hour. If you aren’t colliding with other people, then you are passing very closely by them. For stars, these near collisions still cause them to interact gravitationally. We wanted to explore what these collisions and interactions mean for the stellar population and characterize their outcomes.”

“Stars, which are under the influence of a supermassive black hole in a very crowded region, are unlike anything we will ever see in our own solar neighbourhood.”

Sanaea Rose, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA

The stellar density in the inner 0.1 parsecs is nothing like our Solar System’s neighbourhood. The nearest star to our Sun is the low-mass Proxima Centauri. It’s just over four light-years away. It’s like having no neighbours at all.

But in the NSC, things are way different.

The Milky Way galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole (Sgr A*, shown in the inset on the right) embedded in the Nuclear Star Cluster (NSC) at the center, highlighted and enlarged in the middle panel. The image on the right shows the stellar density in the NSC. Image Credit: Zhuo Chen

“The closest star to our sun is about four light-years away,” Rose explained. “Within that same distance near the supermassive black hole, there are more than a million stars. It’s an incredibly crowded neighbourhood. On top of that, the supermassive black hole has a really strong gravitational pull. As they orbit the black hole, stars can move at thousands of kilometres per second.”

In a stellar density that high, collisions are inevitable. The rate of collisions is more severe the closer stars are to the SMBH. In their research, Rose and her colleagues simulated the region to determine the collisions’ effect on individual stars and the stellar population.

The simulations showed that head-on collisions are rare. So stars aren’t destroyed. Instead, they’re more like glancing blows, where stars can be stripped of their outer layers before continuing their trajectories.

“They whack into each other and keep going,” Rose said. “They just graze each other as though they are exchanging a very violent high-five. This causes the stars to eject some material and lose their outer layers. Depending on how fast they are moving and how much they overlap when they collide, they might lose quite a bit of their outer layers. These destructive collisions result in a population of strange, stripped down, low-mass stars.”

These stars end up migrating away from the SMBH. The authors say that there is likely a population of these low-mass stars spread throughout the galactic centre (GC.) They also say that the ejected mass from these grazing collisions could produce the gas and dust features other researchers have observed in the GC, like X7, and G objects like G3 and G2.

X7 is an elongated gas and dust structure in the galactic centre. The researchers suggest it could be made of mass stripped from stars during collisions between fast-moving stars near Sgr. A*. G3 and G2 are objects that resemble clouds of gas and dust but also have properties of stellar objects. Image Credit: Ciurlo et al. 2023.

Outside of the 0.1 parsecs region, the stars are slower. As a result, collisions between stars aren’t as energetic or destructive. Instead of creating a population of stripped-down stars, collisions allow the stars to merge, creating more massive stars. Multiple mergers are possible, creating stars more massive than our Sun.

“A few stars win the collision lottery,” Rose said. “Through collisions and mergers, these stars collect more hydrogen. Although they were formed from an older population, they masquerade as rejuvenated, young-looking stars. They are like zombie stars; they eat their neighbours.”

But after they gain that mass, they hasten their own demise. They become like young, massive stars that consume their fuel quickly.

This artist’s illustration shows a massive star orbiting Sagittarius A*. Post-collision, some stars gain mass and end up shortening their lives. Image Credit: University of Cologne

“They die very quickly,” Rose said. “Massive stars are sort of like giant, gas-guzzling cars. They start with a lot of hydrogen, but they burn through it very, very fast.”

Another puzzling thing about this inner region is the lack of red giants. “Observations of the GC indicate a deficit of RGs within about 0.3 pc of the SMBH,” the authors write, referencing other research. Their results could explain it. “We consider whether main-sequence stellar collisions may help explain this observational puzzle,” they write. “We find that within ~ 0.01 pc of the SMBH, stellar collisions destroy most low-mass stars before they can evolve off the main sequence. Thus, we expect a lack of RGs in this region.”

The region around the Milky Way’s SMBH is chaotic. Even disregarding the black hole itself and its swirling accretion disk and tortured magnetic fields, the stars that dance to its tune live chaotic lives. The simulations show that most stars in the GC will experience direct collisions with other stars. But their chaotic lives could shed light on how the entire region evolved. And since the region resists astronomers’ attempts to observe it, simulations like this are their next best tool.

“It’s an environment unlike any other,” Rose said. “Stars, which are under the influence of a supermassive black hole in a very crowded region, are unlike anything we will ever see in our own solar neighbourhood. But if we can learn about these stellar populations, then we might be able to learn something new about how the galactic center was assembled. At the very least, it certainly provides a point of contrast for the neighbourhood where we live.”

Note: these results are based on a pair of published papers:

• Collisional Shaping of Nuclear Star Cluster Density Profiles
• Stellar Collisions in the Galactic Center: Massive Stars, Collision Remnants, and Missing Red Giants

The post The Stellar Demolition Derby in the Centre of the Galaxy appeared first on Universe Today.

California’s rare sequoias rely on high heat to disperse their seeds, and efforts to reduce the size of wildfires may be damaging their ability to reproduce

California’s rare sequoias rely on high heat to disperse their seeds, and efforts to reduce the size of wildfires may be damaging their ability to reproduce

The CHEOPS mission has seen tantalizing hints of the rainbow-like glory effect over WASP-76b, an extreme world where iron rains heavily on one side of the planet.

One total solar eclipse changed physics forever – and even to this day these celestial phenomena are astonishing viewers and teaching us crucial lessons about the universe

One total solar eclipse changed physics forever – and even to this day these celestial phenomena are astonishing viewers and teaching us crucial lessons about the universe

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/

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

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

• Humans in Space
• Jessica Watkins
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SkySafari has new solar eclipse capabilities on its app, including a simulator and a shadow tracker, making it the perfect app for April 8.

Dragon bones, mysterious carvings and simple math reveal ancient eclipses

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.”

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

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• Aeronautics
• Drones & You

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

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 

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

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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

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, left, Frank Rubio, Warren Hoburg, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, pose for a photo wearing solar glasses, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Bowen, Hoburg, and Alneyadi spent 186 days aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 69; while Rubio set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, spending 371 days in orbit on an extended mission spanning Expeditions 68 and 69.