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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) While on tour, Team NEO representatives stop to take a photo by the dedication plaque for NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Left to right: Nico Samaniego, Christine Nelson, Peter Zahirsky, Kathleen Meehan, Bryce Sylvester, David Ebersole, and Camille Billups.Credit: NASA/Erin Bukach 

Representatives from Team NEO toured several facilities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center on April 24. Team NEO is the designated Northeast Ohio JobsOhio Network Partner that works to expand business, establish partnerships, and create jobs. The visitors toured facilities at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky and Lewis Field in Cleveland, including the Space Environments Complex, Cryogenics Component Lab, Altitude Combustion Stand, Administration Building, and Flight Research Building (hangar) with the intent to learn more about Enhanced Use Lease opportunities at NASA Glenn. Team NEO can assist NASA Glenn in finding potential occupants for underutilized facilities that would benefit the center and boost economic growth in Northeast Ohio.  

Return to Newsletter Explore More 1 min read NASA Glenn Joins COSI’s Big Science Celebration Article 18 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Research Highlighted in Tape Exhibit Article 18 hours ago 2 min read Glenn Digital Specialists Earn NASA Awards Article 18 hours ago

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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Glenn Research Center Director Dr. Jimmy Kenyon speaks to a record crowd of public, private, and academic partners at the Ohio Space Forum in downtown Cleveland. Credit: NASA/Susan Valerian 

NASA’s Glenn Research Center kicked off the Ohio Space Forum with a tour of several research facilities at its Cleveland location on April 29. The annual two-day forum brings together federal, military, industry, and academic leaders in space research, operations, intelligence, exploration, and defense. It enables attendees to gather among nationally recognized leaders and benefit from their expertise.  

After the NASA tour, the forum transitioned to the Westin Cleveland Downtown, where NASA Glenn Center Director Dr. Jimmy Kenyon welcomed participants and discussed the leading role NASA Glenn will have in space research, innovation, and exploration, including the Artemis missions to the Moon. NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free provided the NASA keynote address, and other Glenn leaders shared their expertise during breakout sessions and panel discussions.   

The event concluded with a reception at the NASA Glenn Visitor Center, located in Great Lakes Science Center.  

Return to Newsletter Explore More 7 min read Go Back to the Future with NASA at Comicpalooza 2024 Article 17 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Joins COSI’s Big Science Celebration Article 18 hours ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Research Highlighted in Tape Exhibit Article 18 hours ago

The 90-year-old finally realized his dreams of spaceflight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle, which also carried five other crew members on a short suborbital voyage

NASA scientists have discovered signs of an impending flash drought months before the onset by observing the brightness of "glowing" plants from space.

The best binoculars for long distance viewing have high magnification, quality optics and excel for stargazing or wildlife observation — here are our favorites.

The world's biggest AI companies have made artificial general intelligence, or AGI, their goal. But it isn't always clear what AGI means, and there is debate about whether it is a valuable idea

The world's biggest AI companies have made artificial general intelligence, or AGI, their goal. But it isn't always clear what AGI means, and there is debate about whether it is a valuable idea

What did the monster active region that created the recent auroras look like when at the Sun's edge?

Modeling distant planets has revealed that tidal forces generated by their parent stars can combine with intense radiation bombardment and strip away their atmospheres.

Video: 00:51:05

ESA’s Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission is designed to advance our understanding of the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting incident solar radiation back out to space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface.

Developed as a cooperation between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), this exciting mission will make a range of different measurements that together will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s delicate temperature balance. 

With global climate change increasingly affecting our planet, EarthCARE is poised to provide data for climate research, improve the accuracy of climate models and support numerical weather prediction. 

The EarthCare pre-launch press briefing featured: Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes, ESA, Dirk Bernaerts, EarthCARE project manager and Acting Head Earth Explorers Division, ESA, Futoshi Takiguchi, Vice President and Director General for the Space Technology Directorate, JAXA, Eiichi Tomita, EarthCARE/CPR Project Manager, JAXA and Maximilian Sauer, EarthCARE Project Manager, Airbus.

Neurodiversity reframes neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD as differences to be embraced rather than treated – but that doesn’t mean abandoning diagnosis and intervention altogether

Neurodiversity reframes neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD as differences to be embraced rather than treated – but that doesn’t mean abandoning diagnosis and intervention altogether

The physics surrounding black holes is just plain weird. A gravitational well so strong that not even light can escape can do some pretty strange things to normal matter. Over the decades, plenty of theories have been put forward about what those strange things might be. And now, a new paper from physicists at the University of Oxford has proved that, once again, Einstein’s theory of gravity was right. 

Their work focused on a “plunging region” immediately outside the black hole’s radius. In this region, matter “plunges” straight into the black hole rather than orbiting it via the more familiar laws of orbital mechanics. One of the paper’s authors, Dr. Andrew Mummery, equates it to watching a river turn into a waterfall. Matter flows nicely along a well-defined path and then seemingly drops off a cliff.

Theoretical work has been ongoing for this region for decades. The idea of the plunge came originally from Einstein’s theory of gravity. It noted that sufficiently close to a black hole, the matter would be forced into the black hole at close to the speed of light. However, no one had yet collected any data and proved this theory.

Fraser celebrates the first direct image of a black hole.

However, data from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) change that. They collected X-ray data on a relatively small black hole located in a star system about 10,000 light years away. That data showed that matter (which is all plasma at that point) rapidly moves toward the interior of the black hole once it reaches a certain threshold. 

This discovery is only the first step in a long-term plan, where researchers hope to use a much bigger telescope to study much larger black holes. The Africa Millimetre Telescope is a proposed new ground-based telescope planned to begin operations in Namibia. Originally proposed back in 2016, the project is slowly moving toward first light and has so far received 10 million Euros in funding. 

With this new telescope, the Oxford physicists hope to glimpse one of the supermassive black holes in the center of our galaxy. They could potentially even capture a video of it rotating—or at least the matter around it rotating. That would be a first for black hole astronomy and a major technical feat in and of itself.

Fraser discusses another weird aspect of the physics of black holes – how cold are they?

For now, plenty of other smaller black holes can be analyzed using data from existing telescopes, such as NuSTAR and NICER, as well as other platforms. The paper also analyzed data from the International Space Station. With new tools and a better understanding of what to look for, there are undoubtedly more discoveries waiting to be made about black holes in the data we’ve already collected.

Learn More:
University of Oxford – First proof that “plunging regions” exist around black holes in space
Mummery et al – Continuum emission from within the plunging region of black hole discs
UT – New View Reveals Magnetic Fields Around Our Galaxy’s Giant Black Hole
UT – Black Hole Event Horizons Can Get So Big it’ll Boggle Your Imagination

Lead Image:
Artist’s illustration of a black hole.
Credit – NASA

The post After Swirling Around a Black Hole, Matter Just Falls Straight In appeared first on Universe Today.

On May 16, 2024, a crowd of more than 500 people gathered at Space Center Houston’s IMAX theater for the Expedition 70 crew debrief and awards ceremony. Crew members from NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 and Soyuz MS-24 missions shared reflections from their voyage aboard the International Space Station and bestowed well-deserved recognition upon Johnson Space Center employees and partners whose dedication and support contributed to the expedition’s success. 

A group photo of participants from the Expedition 70 crew debrief and awards ceremony on May 16, 2024, at Space Center Houston’s IMAX theater. Credit: NASA/David DeHoyos

The special event featured four Expedition 70 astronauts: 

• Jasmin Moghbeli, Crew-7 commander and Expedition 70 flight engineer, NASA 
• Loral O’Hara, Soyuz MS-24 and Expedition 70 flight engineer, NASA 
• Andreas Mogensen, Crew-7 pilot and Expedition 70 commander, ESA (European Space Agency) 
• Satoshi Furukawa, Crew-7 mission specialist and Expedition 70 flight engineer, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) 

NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen kicked off the event by striking the ceremonial bell to complete the 70th voyage to the orbiting laboratory. 

Johnson Deputy Director Stephen Koerner honored the crew’s achievements. “Through the Johnson Space Center’s Dare | Unite | Explore initiatives, we are called to unite with our partners to complete these bold missions,” said Koerner. “Tonight, we are celebrating the completion of one of those such missions.” 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 crew inside the vestibule in between the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft and the International Space Station’s Harmony module. From left are Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. Credit: NASA

The Crew-7 mission was the first in the history of the Commercial Crew Program to have each seat in the Dragon spacecraft occupied by a different international partner.  

The Expedition 70 crew successfully conducted 286 experiments and received five cargo resupply missions that delivered thousands of pounds of scientific research, supplies, and hardware to the orbital outpost.  

The astronauts performed numerous science experiments and technology demonstrations, including the first robotic surgery (on simulated tissue) in space. The crew also encountered several other notable firsts. O’Hara and Moghbeli undertook their inaugural spacewalk together, while ESA astronaut Andy Mogensen became the first non-US pilot to fulfill that role on the Dragon vehicle. The crew also welcomed the third private astronaut mission, Ax-3, aboard the orbiting laboratory, along with Marina Vasilevskaya, the first female Belarusian in space as a spaceflight participant. 

“Even after more than 25 years of operations, we continue to experience exciting firsts aboard station,” said Dana Weigel, program manager for the International Space Station Program. “On behalf of the ISS Program, I want to thank the crew and the ground teams around the world for your passion and commitment to the International Space Station mission. The incredible advancements we make that benefit life here on Earth and inspire future generations are a direct result of your work.” 

Watch below to recap the Expedition 70 crew members’ unique journey aboard the International Space Station and to celebrate those who helped make the mission a success. 

In an ongoing swarm of earthquakes that began hitting Japan in 2020, the shifting weight of surface water may have spurred the shaking

In an ongoing swarm of earthquakes that began hitting Japan in 2020, the shifting weight of surface water may have spurred the shaking

With tentative evidence for long-lasting quantum phenomena inside cells, researchers are beginning to rethink what we need to look for to find clinching evidence of quantum biology

With tentative evidence for long-lasting quantum phenomena inside cells, researchers are beginning to rethink what we need to look for to find clinching evidence of quantum biology

Credit: NASA

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy are hosting an employee town hall at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 22, to discuss how the agency is using and developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to advance missions and research.

The event will steam live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website.

The town hall also will feature the NASA experts pioneering and leading the use of AI across the agency, including:

• A.C. Charania, chief technologist
• David Salvagnini, chief artificial intelligence officer
• Jeff Seaton, chief information officer
• Kate Calvin, chief scientist

A wide variety of AI tools are used by NASA to benefit humanity from supporting missions and research projects across the agency, analyzing data to reveal trends and patterns, and developing systems capable of supporting spacecraft and aircraft autonomously.

On May 13, Nelson named Salvagnini as NASA’s first chief artificial intelligence officer. The agency continues developing recommendations on leveraging emerging AI technology for a variety of missions including sifting through Earth science imagery to identifying areas of interest, to searching for data on planets outside our solar system from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, scheduling communications from the Perseverance Mars rover through the Deep Space Network, and more.

Learn more about artificial intelligence at NASA at:

https://www.nasa.gov/artificial-intelligence

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Faith McKie / Jennifer Dooren
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov

Hillary Smith
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley
650-604-4789
hillary.smith@nasa.gov

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Details Last Updated May 21, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

• NASA Headquarters
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

Astronomers have found that one of the lightest exoplanets ever seen, the young 'cotton candy' world V1298 Tau b, may be shrinking from the size of Jupiter to the width of a super-Earth.