SpaceMan

From the left, NASA Kennedy Space Center’s, Maui Dalton, project manager, engineering; Katherine Zeringue, cultural resources manager; Janet Petro, NASA Kennedy Space Center director; and Ismael Otero, project manager, engineering, unveil a large bronze historical marker plaque at the location of NASA Kennedy’s original headquarters building on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Approved in April 2023 as part of the State of Florida’s Historical Markers program in celebration of National Historic Preservation Month, the marker commemorates the early days of space exploration and is displayed permanently just west of the seven-story, 200,000 square foot Central Campus Headquarters Building, which replaced the old building in 2019.Photo credit:: NASA/Mike Chambers Current and former employees of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida gathered recently to celebrate the installation of a Florida Historical Marker cast in bronze at the location of the spaceport’s old headquarters building. The first of its kind inside the center’s secure area, the marker is the latest example of the center’s commitment to remembering its rich history as it continues to launch humanity’s future. At the forefront of NASA Kennedy’s commitment to preservation is Katherine Zeringue, who serves as cultural resources manager, overseeing the center’s historic resources from buildings to historic districts to archaeological sites. “Traditional approaches attempt to preserve things to a specific time *******, including historic materials,” Zeringue said. “But that’s a challenge here because we still actively use our historic assets, which need to be modified to accommodate new missions and new spacecraft. Therefore, we rely on an adaptive reuse approach, in which the active use of a historic property helps to ensure its preservation.” Many iconic structures are still in service at NASA Kennedy, like the Beach House where Apollo astronauts congregated with their families, the Vehicle Assembly Building where NASA rockets are still stacked, the Launch Control Center, and Launch Complex 39A. All told, 83 buildings, seven historic districts, and one National Historic Landmark are either listed or are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. To conserve these resources, the spaceport follows a variety of federal laws, regulations, and executive orders, including the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. This includes making a reasonable and good ****** effort to identify any historic properties under its care and considering how its decisions affect historic properties. “The Cultural Resources Management Program aims to balance historic preservation considerations with the agency’s mission and mandate to ensure reliable access to space for government and commercial payloads,” Zeringue said. “Finding that proper balance is challenging in the dynamic environment of our spaceport.” Perhaps no other location embodies the center’s commitment to the past and the future more than Launch Complex 39A. Created in 1965, the launch complex was initially designed to support the Saturn V rocket, which powered the agency’s Apollo Program as it made numerous trips to the Moon. Outside of launching Skylab in 1973, the pad stood unused following Apollo’s end in 1972 until the agency’s Space Shuttle Program debuted in 1981. The transition from Apollo to space shuttle saw Launch Complex 39A transform from support of a single-use rocket to supporting the nation’s first reusable space launch and landing system. By the time the program ended in 2011, 135 space shuttle launches had taken place within Kennedy’s boundary, 82 of which were at Launch Complex 39A. Many of those were among the program’s most notable, including the flights of astronauts Sally Ride, NASA’s first woman in space, and Guion Bluford, NASA’s first ****** astronaut in space, as well as the first flight to the newly created International Space Station in 1998. The launch complex began another transformation in 2014 when NASA signed a 20-year lease agreement with SpaceX as part of Kennedy’s transformation into a multi-user spaceport. SpaceX reconfigured Launch Complex 39A to support its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which today launch robotic science missions and other government and commercial payloads, as well as crew and cargo to the space station. Apollo-era infrastructure is incorporated in the SpaceX Crew Launch Tower. “Launch Complex 39A exemplifies the balance between historic preservation and supporting the mission,” Zeringue noted. “Each chapter of the space program brings change, and those changes become additional chapters in the center’s historical legacy as we continue to build the future in space exploration.” View the full article

20 Min Read The Marshall Star for June 18, 2024 California Teams Win $1.5 Million in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge By Savannah Bullard After two days of live competitions, two teams from southern California are heading home with a combined $1.5 million from NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge. Since 2020, competitors from around the world have competed in this challenge with the common goal of inventing robots that can excavate and transport the icy regolith on the Moon. The lunar South Pole is the targeted landing site for crewed Artemis missions, so utilizing all resources in that area, including the ice within the dusty regolith inside the permanently shadowed regions, is vital for the success of a sustained human lunar presence. The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering, Valerie and Todd Mendenhall, receive the $1 million prize June 12, for winning the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge at Alabama A&M’s Agribition Center in Huntsville. With the Terra Engineering team at the awards ceremony are from left, Daniel K. Wims, Alabama A&M University president; Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Marshall Space Flight center director; NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, and Majed El-Dweik, Alabama A&M University’s vice president of Research & Economic Development.NASA/Jonathan Deal On Earth, the mission architectures developed in this challenge aim to help guide machine design and operation concepts for future mining and excavation operations and equipment for decades. “Break the Ice represents a significant milestone in our journey toward sustainable lunar exploration and a future human presence on the Moon,” said Joseph Pelfrey, center director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “This competition has pushed the boundaries of what is possible by challenging the brightest minds to devise groundbreaking solutions for excavating lunar ice, a crucial resource for future missions. Together, we are forging a future where humanity ventures further into the cosmos than ever before.” The final round of the Break the Ice competition featured six finalist teams who succeeded in an earlier phase of the challenge. The competition took place at the Alabama A&M Agribition Center in Huntsville on June 11 and 12, where each team put their diverse solutions to the test in a series of trials, using terrestrial resources like gravity-offloading cranes, concrete slabs, and a rocky track with tricky obstacles to mimic the environment on the Moon. The husband-and-wife duo of Terra Engineering took home the top prize for their “Fracture” rover. Team lead Todd Mendenhall competed in NASA’s 2007 Regolith Excavation Challenge, facilitated through NASA’s Centennial Challenges, which led him and Valerie Mendenhall to continue the pursuit of solutions for autonomous lunar excavation. A small space hardware business, Starpath Robotics, earned the second-place prize for its four-wheeled rover that can mine, collect, and haul material. The team, led by Saurav Shroff and lead engineer Mihir Gondhalekar, developed a robotic mining tool that features a drum barrel scraping mechanism for breaking into the tough lunar surface. This allows the ****** to mine material quickly and robustly without sacrificing energy. “This challenge has been pivotal in advancing the technologies we need to achieve a sustained human presence on the Moon,” said Kim Krome, the Acting Program Manager for NASA’s Centennial Challenges. “Terra Engineering’s rover, especially, bridged several of the technology gaps that we identified – for instance, being robust and resilient enough to traverse rocky landscapes and survive the harsh conditions of the lunar South Pole.” Starpath Robotics earned the second place prize for its four-wheeled rover that can mine, collect, and haul material during the final phase of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge. From left, Matt Kruszynski, Saurav Shroff, Matt Khudari, Alan Hsu, David Aden, Mihir Gondhalekarl, Joshua Huang, and Aakash Ramachandran.NASA/Jonathan Deal Beyond the $1.5 million in prize funds, three teams will be given the chance to use Marshall Space Flight Center’s thermal vacuum (TVAC) chambers to continue testing and developing their robots. These chambers use thermal vacuum technologies to create a simulated lunar environment, allowing scientists and researchers to build, test, and approve hardware for flight-ready use. The following teams performed exceptionally well in the excavation portion of the final competition, earning these invitations to the TVAC facilities: Terra Engineering (Gardena, California) Starpath Robotics (Hawthorne, California) Michigan Technological University – Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (Houghton, Michigan) “We’re looking forward to hosting three of our finalists at our thermal vacuum chamber, where they will get full access to continue testing and developing their technologies in our state-of-the-art facilities,” said Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, who supports NASA’s Centennial Challenges through Jacobs Space Exploration Group. “Hopefully, these tests will allow the teams to take their solutions to the next level and open the door for opportunities for years to come.” NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, with support from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Ensemble Consultancy supports challenge competitors. Alabama A&M University, in coordination with NASA, supports the final competitions and winner event for the challenge. Bullard, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc. employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top NASA Announces Winners of 2024 Student Launch Competition Over 1,000 students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched high-powered, ******** rockets on April 13, just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, as part of the agency’s annual Student Launch competition. Teams of middle school, high school, college, and university students were tasked to design, build, and launch a rocket and scientific payload to an altitude between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, while making a successful landing and executing a scientific or engineering payload mission. High school and collegiate student teams gathered just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to participate in the agency’s annual Student Launch competition April 13.Credits: NASA/Charles Beason “These bright students rise to a nine-month challenge that tests their skills in engineering, design, and teamwork,” said Kevin McGhaw, director of NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Southeast Region. “They are the Artemis Generation, the future scientists, engineers, and innovators who will lead us into the future of space exploration.” NASA announced the University of Notre Dame is the overall winner of the agency’s 2024 Student Launch challenge, followed by Iowa State University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A complete list challenge winners can be found on the agency’s student launch web page. NASA presented the 2024 Student Launch challenge award winners in a virtual award ceremony June 7. Each year NASA implements a new payload challenge to reflect relevant missions. This year’s payload challenge is inspired by the Artemis missions, which seek to land the first woman and first person of ****** on the Moon. The complete list of award winners are as follows: 2024 Overall Winners First place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana Second place: Iowa State University, Ames Third place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte 3D Printing Award: College Level: First place: University of Tennessee Chattanooga Middle/High School Level: First place: First ******** ******* of Manchester, Manchester, Connecticut Altitude Award College Level: First place: Iowa State University, Ames Middle/High School Level: First place: Morris County 4-H, Califon, New Jersey Best-Looking Rocket Award: College Level: First place: New York University, Brooklyn, New York Middle/High School Level: First place: Notre Dame Academy High School, Los Angeles ********* Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Reusable Launch Vehicle Innovative Payload Award: College Level: First place: University of Colorado Boulder Second place: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee Third place: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Judge’s Choice Award: Middle/High School Level: First place: Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls, Iowa Second place: Young Engineers in Action, LaPalma, California Third place: First ******** ******* of Manchester, Manchester, Connecticut Project Review Award: College Level: First place: University of Florida, Gainesville AIAA Reusable Launch Vehicle Award: College Level: First place: University of Florida, Gainesville Second place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte Third place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana AIAA Rookie Award: College Level: First place: University of Colorado Boulder Safety Award: College Level: First place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana Second place: University of Florida, Gainesville Third place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte Social Media Award: College Level: First place: University of Colorado Boulder Middle/High School Level: First place: Newark Memorial High School, Newark, California STEM Engagement Award: College Level: First place: University of Notre Dame, Indiana Second place: University of North Carolina at Charlotte Third place: New York University, Brooklyn, New York Middle/High School Level: First place: Notre Dame Academy High School, Los Angeles, California Second place: Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls, Iowa Third place: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia Service Academy Award: First place: ******* States Air Force Academy, USAF Academy, Colorado Vehicle Design Award: Middle/High School Level: First place: First ******** ******* of Manchester, Manchester, Connecticut Second place: Explorer Post 1010, Rockville, Maryland Third place: Plantation High School, Plantation, Florida Payload Design Award: Middle/High School Level: First place: Young Engineers in Action, LaPalma, California Second place: Cedar Falls High School, Cedar Falls, Iowa Third place: Spring Grove Area High School, Spring Grove, Pennsylvania Student Launch is one of NASA’s nine Artemis Student Challenges, activities which connect student ingenuity with NASA’s work returning to the Moon under Artemis in preparation for human exploration of Mars. The competition is managed by Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). Additional funding and support are provided by NASA’s OSTEM via the Next Gen STEM project, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, ********* Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space, and Bastion Technologies. › Back to Top Keith Savoy Named Deputy Director at Michoud Assembly Facility Keith Savoy has been named deputy director of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, effective June 16. Savoy will assist in managing the day-to-day operations of one of the world’s largest manufacturing facilities, where key elements of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), and Orion spacecraft are built. Michoud, a multi-tenant manufacturing site sitting on 829 acres with over 2 million square feet of manufacturing space, is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and provides facility infrastructure and capacity for federal, state, academic, and technology-based industry partners. Keith Savoy has been named deputy director of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility.NASA Savoy was the chief operating officer of Michoud Assembly Facility from 2022-2024, where he oversaw the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of the NASA-owned facility, helping sustain SLS and Orion production efforts and coordinating requirements and logistics with Michoud tenant leadership for approximately 3,500 Michoud employees. He previously served as manager of the Office of Center Operations of Michoud from 2016-2022. His responsibilities included managing the facility’s planning, maintenance, design, construction, and engineering. Savoy also oversaw energy and water conservation, environmental permitting and compliance, industrial hygiene, and medical, security, and logistics services, where he was responsible for managing over $350 million of supplemental funding projects sitewide. Savoy also held the position of lead engineer, Logistics and Operation Planning for NASA from 2007-2016 at Michoud as an expert consultant for all engineering aspects of the facility. He managed multi-phase projects and helped advance aerospace manufacturing at Michoud to meet the complex requirements of SLS and Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle programs, ensuring environmental compliance. Savoy worked closely with local, state, and federal environmental regulatory agencies to identify and resolve engineering and environmental issues. His expertise was a key contributor to ensuring NASA’s sustainable and environmental goals were achieved. Prior to working for NASA, Savoy held several positions of increasing responsibility with Lockheed Martin from 1988-2007. As manager of Operational Planning and Layout, he was responsible for managing the Construction of Facilities. This required developing and implementing plans, outlining scope-of-work, overseeing large-scale project budgets, and Project Definition Rating assessment/score and 1509 development. Savoy implemented Six Sigma & Lean principles concepts to achieve many successes and identified innovative solutions and best practices to satisfy customer requirements. Savoy was also the manager of the Infrastructure Enhancement Team where he managed over 160 personnel and a $10 million budget. Savoy has a Master of Science in environmental management from National Technological University in Fort Collins, Colorado, a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and a technical degree in industrial instrumentation from International Technical Institute in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Throughout his career, Savoy has received various awards including the NASA Honor Award Outstanding Leadership Medal, Director’s Commendation Honor Award, Safety Flight Awareness Awards, and several Silver Medal Group Achievement Awards. › Back to Top ‘NASA in the Park’ Returns to Rocket City June 22 NASA in the Park is coming back to Big Spring Park East in Huntsville, Alabama, on June 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT. The event is free and open to the public. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, its partners, and collaborators will fill the park with space exhibits, music, food vendors, and hands-on activities for all ages. Marshall is teaming up with Downtown Huntsville Inc. for this unique celebration of space and the Rocket City. “NASA in the Park gives us the opportunity to bring our work outside the gates of Redstone Arsenal and thank the community for their continuing support,” Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey said. “It’s the first time we’ve held the event since 2018, and we look forward to sharing this experience with everyone.” Pelfrey will kick the event off with local leaders on the main stage. NASA speakers will spotlight topics ranging from space habitats to solar sails, and local rock band Five by Five will perform throughout the day. “NASA Marshall is leading the way in this new era of space exploration, for the benefit of all humankind,” Pelfrey said. “We are proud members of the Rocket City community, which has helped us push the boundaries of science, technology, and engineering for nearly 65 years.” › Back to Top Mission Success is in Our Hands: Baraka Truss By Wayne Smith Mission Success is in Our Hands is a safety initiative collaboration between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Jacobs. As part of the initiative, eight Marshall team members are featured in testimonial banners placed around the center. This is the last in a Marshall Star series profiling team members featured in the testimonial banners. The Mission Success team also awards the Golden Eagle Award on a quarterly basis to Marshall and contractor personnel who are nominated by their peers or management. Candidates for this award have made significant, identifiable contributions that exceed normal job expectations to advance flight safety and mission assurance. Nominations for 2024 are open now online on Inside Marshall. Baraka Truss is the Avionics and Software Branch chief at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA/Charles Beason Baraka Truss is the Avionics and Software Branch chief in the Safety and Mission Assurance Organization, Vehicle Systems Department, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Her key responsibilities include being viewed as a leadership role model, “demonstrating commitment to the mission and NASA’s core values, creating the most impact for the greater agency, and engaging in activities that promote supervisory excellence and value beyond the immediate organization.” Truss has worked at Marshall for 28 years. Her previous roles have been software engineer, Software Engineering Process Group lead, special assistant to the center director, Independent Assessment Team lead, Software Quality Discipline lead engineer, Software Assurance Team lead, and SLS (Space Launch System) Software chief safety officer. A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Truss earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville. Question: How does your work support the safety and success of NASA and Marshall missions? Truss: My work involves daily managing and interactions with the avionics and software team members whose mission is to ensure the safety of hardware and software for various programs and projects at Marshall and NASA. Question: What does the initiative campaign “Mission Success is in Our Hands” mean to you? Truss: That when risks arise, we should be sure to listen to all sides and make informed decisions, be held accountable, and speak up for what is safe when we need to do so. Question: Do you have a story or personal experience you can share that might help others understand the significance of mission assurance or flight safety? What did you learn from it? Truss: In my experience, mission assurance requires you to “believe the unlikely.” I have learned that believing what you have never seen requires you to stretch your imagination, because we are prone to discount and devalue things that we have not seen. We are skeptical about things that have never been seen, never been done, never been achieved, or never been accomplished. Because according to our limited logic if it’s never been seen, never been done, never been achieved, or never been accomplished, then it’s not likely to be seen, not likely to be done, not likely to be achieved, and not likely to be accomplished. Therefore, we see no need to attempt it, try it, believe it, or invest in it because while we’ll acknowledge that it’s possible, we quickly add it’s not probable, because our idea of likelihood is limited by our experience. My experiences working for NASA have stretched me to an amazing place of accountability, assurance, and mission success. Question: How can we work together better to achieve mission success? Truss: Again, by listening to all sides and making informed decisions, being held accountable, and speaking up for what is safe when we need to do so. Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications. › Back to Top That’s the Spirit: Marshall Team Members Show Support at Community Softball Game NASA shows its team spirit during the Armed Forces Celebration Community Softball Game on June 12 at Toyota Field. Marshall Space Flight Center’s Robert Champion and Jason Adam joined Team Redstone to take on the North Alabama Rockets, made up of community leaders. (Huntsville Sports Commission) › Back to Top Coming in Hot: NASA’s Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets This graphic shows a three-dimensional map of stars near the Sun. These stars are close enough that they could be prime targets for direct imaging searches for planets using future telescopes. The blue haloes represent stars that have been observed with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. The yellow star at the center of this diagram represents the position of the Sun. The concentric rings show distances of 5, 10, and 15 parsecs (one parsec is equivalent to roughly 3.2 light-years). Astronomers are using these X-ray data to determine how habitable exoplanets may be based on whether they receive lethal radiation from the stars they orbit, as described in a press release. This type of research will help guide observations with the next generation of telescopes aiming to make the first images of planets like Earth. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This video shows a three-dimensional map of stars near the Sun on the left side of the screen and a dramatic illustration of a star with a planet orbiting around it on the right side.Movie: Cal Poly Pomona/B. Binder; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss Researchers examined stars that are close enough to Earth that telescopes set to begin operating in the next decade or two – including the Habitable Worlds Observatory in space and Extremely Large Telescopes on the ground – could take images of planets in the stars’ so-called habitable zones. This term defines orbits where the planets could have liquid water on their surfaces. There are several factors influencing what could make a planet suitable for life as we know it. One of those factors is the amount of harmful X-rays and ultraviolet light they receive, which can damage or even strip away the planet’s atmosphere. Based on X-ray observations of some of these stars using data from Chandra and XMM-Newton, the research team examined which stars could have hospitable conditions on orbiting planets for life to form and prosper. They studied how bright the stars are in X-rays, how energetic the X-rays are, and how much and how quickly they change in X-ray output, for example, due to flares. Brighter and more energetic X-rays can cause more damage to the atmospheres of orbiting planets. The researchers used almost 10 days of Chandra observations and about 26 days of XMM observations, available in archives, to examine the X-ray behavior of 57 nearby stars, some of them with known planets. Most of these are giant planets like Jupiter, Saturn or Neptune, while only a handful of planets or planet candidates could be less than about twice as massive as Earth. These results were presented at the 244th meeting of the ********* Astronomical Society meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, by Breanna Binder (California State Polytechnic University in Pomona). 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. › Back to Top NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster Response In early May, widespread flooding and landslides occurred in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, leaving thousands of people without food, water, or electricity. In the following days, NASA teams provided data and imagery to help on-the-ground responders understand the disaster’s impacts and deploy aid. Building on this response and similar successes, on June 13, NASA announced a new system to support disaster response organizations in the U.S. and around the world. Members of the Los Angeles County ***** Department’s Urban Search and Rescue team in Adiyaman, Turkey, conducting rescue efforts in the wake of powerful earthquakes that struck the region in February 2023. NASA provided maps and data to support USAID and other regional partners during these earthquakes.USAID “When disasters strike, NASA is here to help – at home and around the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “As challenges from extreme weather grow, so too does the value of NASA’s efforts to provide critical Earth observing data to disaster-response teams on the frontlines. We’ve done so for years. Now, through this system, we expand our capability to help power our U.S. government partners, international partners, and relief organizations across the globe as they take on disasters – and save lives.” The team behind NASA’s Disaster Response Coordination System gathers science, technology, data, and expertise from across the agency and provides it to emergency managers. The new system will be able to provide up-to-date information on fires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme events. “The risk from climate-related hazards is increasing, making more people vulnerable to extreme events,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “This is particularly true for the 10% of the global population living in low-lying coastal regions who are vulnerable to storm surges, waves and tsunamis, and rapid erosion. NASA’s disaster system is designed to deliver trusted, actionable Earth science in ways and means that can be used immediately, to enable effective response to disasters and ultimately help save lives.” Agencies working with NASA include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Agency for International Development – as well as international organizations such as World Central Kitchen. “With this deliberate and structured approach, we can be even more effective in putting Earth science into action,” said Josh Barnes, at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Barnes manages the Disaster Response Coordination System. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers remarks June 13 during an event launching a new Disaster Response Coordination System that will provide communities and organizations around the world with access to science and data to aid disaster response. NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA Disasters Team Aiding Brazil When the floods and landslides ravaged parts of Brazil in May, officials from the U.S. Southern Command – working with the U.S. Space Force and Air Force, and regional partners – reached out to NASA for Earth-observing data. NASA’s response included maps of potential power outages from the ****** Marble project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Disaster response coordinators at NASA Goddard also reviewed high-resolution optical data – from the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program – to map more than 4,000 landslides. Response coordinators from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology produced flood extent maps using data from the NASA and U.S. Geological Survey Landsat mission and from ESA’s (the ********* Space Agency) Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite. Response coordinators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center also provided photographs of the flooding taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Building on Previous Work The Brazil event is just one of hundreds of responses NASA has supported over the past decade. The team aids decision-making for a wide range of natural hazards and disasters, from hurricanes and earthquakes to tsunamis and oil spills. “NASA’s Disasters Program advances science for disaster resilience and develops accessible resources to help communities around the world make informed decisions for disaster planning,” said Shanna McClain, manager of NASA’s Disasters Program. “The new Disaster Response Coordination System significantly expands our efforts to bring the power of Earth science when responding to disasters.” › Back to Top View the full article

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist concept of a high-speed point-to-point vehicle.NASA Langley Owing to NASA’s Quesst mission and Commercial Supersonic Technology project, there is growing industry interest in commercial aircraft that fly faster than the speed of sound. In 2020, NASA funded two independent studies to investigate the economic viability of this potential market for high-speed commercial flight. Since then, NASA has funded additional studies to investigate the technology developments needed for these aircraft, as well as the regulatory and certification barriers that currently exist for aircraft that break the sound barrier. Although the initial studies found an economically feasible market may exist for aircraft that fly between 2-4 times the speed of sound, additional studies have shown the most profitable market is at the lower end of this speed range. In addition, current restrictions on overland sonic booms, landing and takeoff noise, and engine emissions currently prohibit the operation of high-speed commercial aircraft. NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology and Hypersonic Technology projects are working to overcome the technological and regulatory barriers by partnering with industry and other government agencies. In addition, NASA hosts industry workshops to discuss high-speed commercial flight and to understand this evolving industry. Presentations and reports from the market studies are available on the NASA Technical Reports Server: SAIC Report SAIC Presentation Deloitte Report Deloitte Presentation Read More About Hypersonics Research Facebook logo @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAAero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More 3 min read NASA Launches Rocket to Study Hypersonic Aircraft Article 2 years ago 2 min read Rocket Launch Scheduled March 21 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Article 2 years ago 1 min read AETC Hypersonic Facilities Article 8 years ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Technology Transfer & Spinoffs Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Manufacturing and Materials Why Go to Space Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactShannon Eichorn*****@*****.tld Related TermsHypersonic TechnologyAdvanced Air Vehicles Program View the full article

2 min read NASA Releases Hubble Image Taken in New Pointing Mode This NASA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy NGC 1546. NASA, ESA, STScI, David Thilker (JHU) NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has taken its first new images since changing to an alternate operating mode that uses one gyro. The spacecraft returned to science operations June 14 after being offline for several weeks due to an issue with one of its gyroscopes (gyros), which help control and orient the telescope. This new image features NGC 1546, a nearby galaxy in the constellation Dorado. The galaxy’s orientation gives us a good view of dust lanes from slightly above and backlit by the galaxy’s core. This dust absorbs light from the core, reddening it and making the dust appear rusty-brown. The core itself glows brightly in a yellowish light indicating an older population of stars. Brilliant-blue regions of active star formation sparkle through the dust. Several background galaxies also are visible, including an edge-on spiral just to the left of NGC 1546. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 captured the image as part of a ****** observing program between Hubble and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The program also uses data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, allowing scientists to obtain a highly detailed, multiwavelength view of how stars form and evolve. The image represents one of the first observations taken with Hubble since transitioning to the new pointing mode, enabling more consistent science operations. The NASA team expects that Hubble can do most of its science observations in this new mode, continuing its groundbreaking observations of the cosmos. “Hubble’s new image of a spectacular galaxy demonstrates the full success of our new, more stable pointing mode for the telescope,” said Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We’re poised now for many years of discovery ahead, and we’ll be looking at everything from our solar system to exoplanets to distant galaxies. Hubble plays a powerful role in NASA’s astronomical toolkit.” Launched in 1990, Hubble has been observing the universe for more than three decades, recently celebrating its 34th anniversary. Read more about some of Hubble’s greatest scientific discoveries. Resources Download the image above NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode Operating Hubble with Only One Gyroscope Hubble Pointing and Control Hubble Science Highlights Hubble Images Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact: Claire Andreoli NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms Astrophysics Astrophysics Division Galaxies Goddard Space Flight Center Hubble Space Telescope Missions The Universe Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA’s Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble Design Hubble Science Hubble’s Galaxies View the full article

3 min read Artemis, Architecture, and Lunar Science: SMD and ESDMD Associate Administrators visits Tokyo June 18, 2024 At NASA we always say that exploration enables science, and science enables exploration. During a recent, quick trip to Tokyo, Japan with our Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD), Cathy Koerner, I had an opportunity to share this message with our partners at the ********* Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). We explore for several reasons but primarily to benefit humanity. How exactly does exploration benefit humanity? By accepting audacious challenges like retuning to the Moon and venturing on to Mars, we inspire and motivate current and future generations of scientists, engineers, problem solvers, and communicators to contribute to our mission and other national priorities. By conducting scientific investigations in deep space, on the Moon, and on Mars, we enhance our understanding of the universe and our place in it. And finally, what we achieve when we explore, how it’s accomplished, and who participates benefits international partnerships and global cooperation that are essential for enhancing the quality of life for all. NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Nicky Fox, and Associate Administrator for the Exploration systems Development Mission Directorate, Cathy Koerner, meet with the ********* Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in Tokyo, Japan on June 11, 2024. Credits: NASA In addition to ***-lateral meetings with our JAXA partners, Cathy and I co-presented at the International Space Exploration Symposium where I shared how every NASA Science division has a stake in Artemis. Cathy provided updates on the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, Gateway, human landing systems, and advanced spacesuits, and I talked about all of the incredible science we will conduct along the way. The Artemis campaign is a series of increasingly complex missions that provide ever-growing capabilities for scientific exploration of the Moon. From geology to solar, biological, and fundamental physics phenomena, exploration teaches about the earliest solar system environment: whether and how the bombardments of nascent worlds influenced the emergence of life, how the Earth and Moon formed and evolved, and how volatiles (like water) and other potential resources were distributed and transported throughout the solar system. Together with our partners like JAXA, NASA is working towards establishing infrastructure for long-term exploration in lunar orbit and on the surface. For example, on Artemis III, JAXA will provide the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer instrument, which once installed near the lunar South Pole, will help collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, it’s interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the Moon. In April, the U.S. and Japan were proud to make a historic announcement for cooperation on the Moon. Japan will design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon. NASA will launch and deliver the rover, and provide two opportunities for ********* astronauts to travel to the lunar surface. This historic agreement was highlighted by President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida and is an example of the strong relationship between the ******* States and Japan. The enclosed and pressurized rover will be able to accommodate two astronauts on the lunar surface for 30 days, and will have a lifespan of about 10 years, enabling it to be used for multiple missions. It will enable longer-duration expeditions, so that astronauts can conduct more moonwalks and perform more science in geographically diverse areas near the lunar South Pole. Artemis is different than anything humanity has ever done before. The Artemis campaign will bring the world along for this historic journey, forever changing humanity’s perspective of our place in the universe. This is the start of a lunar ecosystem, where we’ll do more science than we can dream of, together. Explore More 3 min read NASA’s Hubble Restarts Science in New Pointing Mode Article 4 days ago 2 min read Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil Article 4 days ago 5 min read Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Visits Partners in Spain, ******* Kingdom, Greece, and France Article 1 week ago View the full article

Credits: NASA NASA has awarded the Goddard Logistics Services Contract to TRAX International Corporation of Las Vegas to provide logistics services and management for NASA missions. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract includes a base ******* and up to five options with a potential contract value of approximately $265 million if all options are exercised. The basic ******* of performance is from Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, to July 21, 2025. The five option periods, if exercised, would extend the contract through Jan. 31, 2030. Under this contract, TRAX will provide disposal operations, export control, equipment management, mail, supply, materials, and transportation for NASA. The work will be performed at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and NASA Headquarters in Washington. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Abbey Donaldson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterNASA Centers & FacilitiesNASA HeadquartersWallops Flight Facility View the full article

Credits: NASA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has selected Lockheed Martin Corp. of Littleton, Colorado, to build the spacecraft for NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite program. This cost-plus-award-fee contract is valued at approximately $2.27 billion. It includes the development of three spacecraft as well as four options for additional spacecraft. The anticipated ******* of performance for this contract includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and five years of on-orbit storage, for a total of 15 years for each spacecraft. The work will take place at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Littleton and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The GeoXO constellation will include three operational satellites — east, west and central. Each geostationary, three-axis stabilized spacecraft is designed to host three instruments. The centrally-located spacecraft will carry an infrared sounder and atmospheric composition instrument and can also accommodate a partner payload. Spacecraft in the east and west positions will carry an imager, lightning mapper, and ocean ****** instrument. They will also support an auxiliary communication payload for the NOAA Data Collection System relay, dissemination, and commanding. The contract scope includes the tasks necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, evaluate, and support launch of the GeoXO satellites; provide engineering development units; supply and maintain the ground support equipment and simulators; and support mission operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. NASA and NOAA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the GeoXO program. NOAA funds and manages the program, operations, and data products. On behalf of NOAA, NASA and commercial partners develop and build the instruments and spacecraft and launch the satellites. As part of NOAA’s constellation of geostationary environmental satellites to protect life and property across the Western Hemisphere, the GeoXO program is the follow-on to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites – R (GOES-R) Series Program. The GeoXO satellite system will advance Earth observations from geostationary orbit. The mission will supply vital information to address major environmental challenges of the future in support of weather, ocean, and climate operations in the ******* States. The advanced capabilities from GeoXO will help assess our changing planet and the evolving needs of the nation’s data users. Together, NASA and NOAA are working to ensure GeoXO’s critical observations are in place by the early 2030s when the GOES-R Series nears the end of its operational lifetime. For more information on the GeoXO program, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Liz Vlock Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Jeremy Eggers Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 757-824-2958 *****@*****.tld John Leslie NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service 202-527-3504 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsGOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)Earth ObservatoryEarth Science DivisionNOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)Science Mission Directorate View the full article

Crews transport NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-U) from the Astrotech Space Operations facility to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida beginning on Friday, June 14, 2024, with the operation finishing early Saturday, June 15, 2024. The fourth and final weather-observing and environmental monitoring satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series will assist meteorologists in providing advanced weather forecasting and warning capabilities. The two-hour window for liftoff opens 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA/Ben Smegelsky) NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the satellite’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The GOES-U satellite, the final addition to GOES-R series, will help to prepare for two kinds of weather — Earth and space weather. The GOES satellites serve a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This continuous monitoring aids scientists and forecasters in issuing timely warnings and forecasts to help protect the one billion people who live and work in the Americas. Additionally, GOES-U carries a new compact coronagraph that will image the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere to detect and characterize coronal mass ejections. The deadline for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch has passed. NASA’s media credentialing policy is available online. For questions about media accreditation, please email: ksc*****@*****.tld. NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations): Monday, June 24 9:30 a.m. – NASA EDGE GOES-U prelaunch show on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. 11 a.m. – GOES-U science briefing with the following participants: Charles Webb, deputy director, ****** Agency Satellite Division, NASA Ken Graham, director, NOAA’s National Weather Service Dan Lindsey, chief scientist, GOES-R Program, NOAA Elsayed Talaat, director, NOAA’s Office of Space Weather Observations Chris Wood, NOAA Hurricane Hunter pilot Coverage of the science news conference will stream live on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc*****@*****.tld. 3:15 p.m. – NASA Social panel at Kennedy with the following participants: ***** Zsiros, telemetry engineer, NASA’s Launch Services Program Ellen Ramirez, deputy division chief, Mission Operations Division, National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Office of Satellite and Product Operations, NOAA Dakota Smith, satellite analyst and communicator, NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere Allana Nepomuceno, senior manager, GOES-U Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations, Lockheed Martin Chris Reith, program manager, Advanced Baseline Imager, L3Harris Technologies The panel will stream live on NASA Kennedy’s YouTube, X and Facebook accounts. Members of the public may ask questions online by posting to the YouTube, X, and Facebook live streams or using #AskNASA. 5 p.m. – Prelaunch news conference at Kennedy (following completion of the Launch Readiness Review), with the following participants: Denton Gibson, launch director, Launch Services Program, NASA Steve Volz, assistant administrator, NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service Pam Sullivan, director, GOES-R Program, NOAA John Gagosian, director, ****** Agency Satellite Division Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX Brian Cizek, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force Coverage of the prelaunch news conference will stream live on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc*****@*****.tld. Tuesday, June 25 1 p.m. – Media one-on-one interviews with the following: Michael Morgan, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, NOAA Michael Brennan, director, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center James Spann, senior scientist, Office of Space Weather Observations, NOAA John Gagosian, director, ****** Agency Satellite Division Krizia Negron, language program lead, National Weather Service Office of Science and Technology Integration, NOAA (bilingual, available for Spanish interviews) Dan Lindsey, chief scientist, GOES-R Program, NOAA Jagdeep Shergill, program director, GEO Weather, Lockheed Martin Chris Reith, program manager, Advanced Baseline Imager, L3Harris Technologies 4:15 p.m. – NASA launch coverage begins on NASA+, the agency’s website, and other digital channels. 5:16 p.m. – Two-hour launch window opens Audio Only Coverage Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240 or -7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA Television media launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135. Live Video Coverage Prior to Launch NASA will provide a live video feed of Launch Complex 39A approximately 24 hours prior to the planned liftoff of the mission on NASA Kennedy’s YouTube: [Hidden Content]. The feed will be uninterrupted until the prelaunch broadcast begins on NASA Television media channel. NASA Website Launch Coverage Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 3 p.m., June 25, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on the GOES blog. Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese **** Antonia Jaramillo: *****@*****.tld o Messod Bendayan: *****@*****.tld Attend the Launch Virtually Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch. Watch, Engage on Social Media Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtags #ReadyToGOES and #NASASocial. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts: X: @NASA, @NASA_LSP, @NASAKennedy, @NOAASatellites, @NASAGoddard Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, NASA Kennedy, NOAA Satellites, NASA Goddard Instagram: NASA, NASA Kennedy, NOAA Satellites For more information about the mission, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Liz Vlock Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Peter Jacobs Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 301-286-0535 *****@*****.tld Leejay Lockhart Kennedy Space Center, Florida 321-747-8310 *****@*****.tld View the full article

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has been immortalized at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington as the latest awardee of the Robert J. Collier Trophy. Bestowed annually by the National Aeronautic Association, the trophy recognizes groundbreaking aerospace achievements. Members of the OSIRIS-REx team at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., with the Collier trophy on June 13, 2024. From left to right: Nayi Castro, mission operations manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; Nicole Lunning, curator, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Houston; Anjani Polit, mission implementation systems engineer, University of Arizona, Tucson; Coralie Adam, OSIRIS-REx optical navigation lead, KinetX Inc.; Michael Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager, NASA Goddard; Dennis Reuter, OVIRS instrument scientist, NASA Goddard; Ronald Mink, OSIRIS-REx missions systems engineer, NASA Goddard; Joshua Wood, system design lead, Lockheed Martin Space; Peter Antreasian, OSIRIS-REx navigation team chief, KinetX Inc.; Sandy Freund, program manager, Lockheed Martin Space; Eric Sahr, optical navigation engineer, KinetX Inc.NASA/Rani Gran OSIRIS-REx, formally the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer, was honored “for successfully executing the first ********* retrieval of an asteroid sample and its return to Earth,” according to the award citation. The award was announced in March, and the OSIRIS-REx team visited the museum on June 13, 2024, to see the mission’s name engraved in brass at the base of the statue. “It just blows me away to see the OSIRIS-REx team engraved on the Collier trophy, next to names like Orville Wright, the Apollo 8 crew, and the Voyager Mission Team,” said Michael Moreau, OSIRIS-REx deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “I’m so proud of our amazing team that their excellence and sacrifice to make the OSIRIS-REx mission so successful have been recognized with this prestigious award.” While NASA’s accomplishments have been honored with the Collier award many times, this is one of just a handful of instances that NASA Goddard has been a major partner on a winning team. NASA Goddard most recently claimed a share of the award in 2022 for the James Webb Space Telescope. Previous wins also include 1993 honors for the Hubble Space Telescope and the 1974 prize for a NASA–U.S. Geological Survey satellite that began the long-running Landsat program that studies and monitors changes to Earth’s land masses. The OSIRIS-REx team includes NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado; the University of Arizona, Tucson; and KinetX in Tempe, Arizona. NASA’s Johnson Space Center is responsible for the curation of the Bennu sample material that OSIRIS-REx returned to Earth in September 2023. The Collier Trophy resides in a glass case in the “America by Air” section on the museum’s first floor. The century-old trophy stands at over 7 feet tall and weighs 525 pounds. The bronze sculpture depicts a globe, with three figures emerging from it. The sculpture rests on two walnut bases, each adorned with an engrave brass plaque bearing the names of the recipients. Baltimore sculptor Ernest Wise Keyser designed the Trophy in 1910 for Robert J. Collier, the publisher of Collier’s Weekly magazine and president of the Aero Club of America. By Rani Gran NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRani Gran Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterOSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) View the full article

NASA The crew aboard the International Space Station captured this image of Galveston, Texas, the birthplace of Juneteenth, as the station orbited 224 miles above on Nov. 23, 2011. In the early 1800s, slavers periodically used Galveston Island as an outpost for operations. By 1860, about one-third of Galveston’s population lived under the oppression of chattel slavery. Even after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, in the midst of America’s Civil War, change came slowly to Galveston. Most enslaved people were unaware of Lincoln’s executive order, and the practice of buying and selling ****** people based on race continued in Galveston and other parts of Texas until well into 1865. When Union troops arrived in April 1865, circumstances changed. U.S. Major General Gordon Granger then issued General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865, and Union troops marched through Galveston and read the order aloud at several locations, informing the people of Texas that all enslaved people were free. As news of the order spread, spontaneous celebrations broke out in ******** ********* churches, homes, and other gathering places. As years passed, the picnics, barbecues, parades, and other celebrations that sprang up to commemorate June 19th became more formalized as freed men and women purchased land, or “emancipation grounds,” to hold annual Juneteenth celebrations. Image Credit: NASA View the full article

1 Min Read Happy Birthday, Redshift Wrangler! Redshift Wranglers have roped nearly 8,000 galaxies! The project is now on its 3rd data set, and more data is on the way. Credits: Sadie Coffin About one year ago the Redshift Wrangler project first asked you to help examine “spectra” of distant galaxies. These spectra are diagrams that show how much light we receive from them as a function of wavelength. “Since launching on May 30, 2023, we have reached almost 2,000 volunteers joining our project.” said Coffin. “Together we have made over 143,000 measurements on 11,100 galaxy spectra!” When you join Redshift Wrangler on Zooniverse, you learn about how astronomers use these spectra to look back in time. These data help reveal the rate at which the galaxies are forming stars, what their chemical compositions are, and how their central supermassive ****** holes behave. The goal is to assemble a timeline of galaxy formation. There’s still much more wrangling to do! “We’re continuing to prepare new, exciting data for Redshift Wrangler,” said Coffin. “You can expect better resolution data coming in the next round, and you can look forward to seeing spectra from space telescopes like the Webb Space Telescope in the future as well!” So come help make the project’s second year an even ******* success at [Hidden Content]. No lasso necessary! Facebook logo @DoNASAScience @DoNASAScience Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 Related Terms Astrophysics Citizen Science Explore More 6 min read Investigating the Origins of the Crab Nebula With NASA’s Webb Article 1 day ago 2 min read Hubble Observes a Cosmic Fossil Article 4 days ago 2 min read North Carolina Volunteers Work Toward Cleaner Well Water When the ground floods during a storm, floodwaters wash bacteria and other contaminants into private… Article 1 week ago View the full article

Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 23 min read Summary of the 2023 GEDI Science Team Meeting Introduction The 2023 Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) Science Team Meeting (STM) took place October 17–19, 2023, at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), in College Park, MD. Upwards of 80 people participated in the hybrid meeting (around 50 in-person and the rest virtually). Included among them were GEDI Science Team (ST) members, collaborators, and stakeholders – see Photo. The primary goals of the meeting included providing a status update on the GEDI instrument aboard the International Space Station (ISS), receiving final project updates from the inaugural cohort of the GEDI completed ST, and understanding the present status and future goals of data product development. After a short mission status update, the remainder of this article will summarize the content of the STM. For those desiring more information on these topics, some of the full meeting presentations are posted online. Readers can also contact the GEDI ST with specific questions. Photo. GEDI Science Team Meeting in-person and virtual attendees. Photo credit: Talia Schwelling Mission Status Update: GEDI Given New Lease on Life A lot has changed since the publication of the last GEDI STM summary. (See Summary of the GEDI Science Team Meeting in the July–August 2022 issue of The Earth Observer [Volume 34, issue 4, pp. 20–24]). When the GEDI ST convened in November 2022, the fate of GEDI was hanging in the balance, with the plan being to release GEDI from the ISS at the end of its second extension *******. NASA saved the instrument, however, and a new plan went into effect: in order to extend its tenure on the ISS, the GEDI mission entered a temporary ******* of “hibernation” in March 2023 after nearly four years in orbit. This hibernation ******* and movement of the instrument from Exposed Facility Unit (EFU)-6 (operating location) to EFU-7 (storage location) made way for another mission – see Figure 1. (UPDATE: After being in storage for roughly 13 months, the GEDI instrument was returned to its original location on the ********* Experiment Module–Exposed Facility (JEM–EF) on Earth Day this year, April 22, 2024, and is now once again back to normal science operations using its three lasers.) Figure 1. NASA’s GEDI instrument was moved from EFU-6 to EFU-7 on the ISS on March 17, 2023, where it remained in hibernation for 13 months until its recent reinstallation to EFU-6 on April 22, 2024. The instrument is once again back to normal science operations using its three lasers. Figure credit: NASA As The Earth Observer reported in 2023, data from GEDI are being used for a wide range of applications, including biomass estimation, habitat characterization, and wildfire prediction (See page 4 of The Editor’s Corner in the March–April 2023 issue of The Earth Observer [Volume 35,Issue 2, pp. 1–4]. This section also reports on GEDI’s extension via out-of-cycle Senior Review in 2022). GEDI data is used to develop maps to quantify biomass that are unique in both their accuracy and their explicit characterization of uncertainty and are a key component in the estimation of aboveground carbon stocks, as absorbed carbon is used to drive plant growth and is stored as biomass – see Figure 2. These estimations help quantify the impacts of deforestation and subsequent regrowth on atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. NASA’s choice to extend the GEDI mission has significantly broadened the capacity to collect more of these important data. Figure 2. Country-wide estimates of total aboveground biomass in petagrams (Pg) using GEDI Level-4B Version 2.1 dataset (GEDI_L4B_AGB). Figure credit: ORNL DAAC DAY ONE GEDI Mission Operations, Instrument Status, and Data Level Updates Ralph Dubayah [UMD—GEDI Principal Investigator (PI)] opened the meeting with a summary of the current status of the mission and GEDI data products. After reviewing the details of GEDI’s hibernation (described in the previous section) he went on to describe what GEDI has accomplished over the past 4.5 years of operations, noting that the instrument collected over 26 billion footprints over the land surface. All the data collected by GEDI during its first epoch (i.e., before its hibernation) have been processed and released to the appropriate Distributed Active Archives Centers (DAACs) as Version 2 (V2) products. (To learn more about the DAACs and other aspects of Earth Science data collection and processing, see Earth Science Data Operations: Acquiring, Distributing, and Delivering NASA Data for the Benefit of Society, in the March–April 2017 issue of The Earth Observer, [Volume 29, Issue 2, pp. 4–18]. The DAACs – including URL links to each – are listed in a Table on page 7–8 of this issue). The two DAACs directly involved with GEDI data processing are the Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) DAAC. The LP DAAC houses GEDI Level-1 (L1) data, which consists of geolocated waveforms, and L2 data, which is broken down into L2A and L2B. L2A data includes ground elevation, canopy height, and relative height metrics. (Waveform measurements are described in detail in a sidebar on page 32 of the Summary of the Second GEDI Science Team Meeting in the November–December 2016 issue of The Earth Observer [Volume 28, Issue 6, pp. 31–36].) L2B data includes canopy cover fraction (CCF) and leaf area index (LAI). The ORNL DAAC houses GEDI L3 gridded land surface metrics data, L4A footprint level aboveground biomass density data, and L4B gridded aboveground biomass density data – e.g., see Figure 2. Dubayah went on to explain that while GEDI hibernated, the mission team would work to enhance existing data products as well as produce new products. Version 3 (V3) datasets for all data products are expected to be released by the fall of 2024, and new data products are in development, including a waveform structural complexity index (WSCI) and a topography and canopy height product that blends data from GEDI and the Ice, Clouds, and land Elevation Satellite–2 (ICESat–2) mission. A new dataset, the GEDI L4C footprint level waveform structural complexity index (WSCI) product, was added to the ORNL DAAC catalogue in May 2024. To further improve data quality and coverage, the GEDI team is hoping to organize an airborne lidar field campaign to southeast Asia in the coming years. Dubayah concluded his updates by highlighting a set of six papers published in 2023 in Nature and Science family or partner journals that focused on the use of GEDI data. Visit our website for a comprehensive list of publications related to GEDI. After receiving a general update from the mission PI, the next several presentations gave meeting participants a more in-depth look at GEDI science data planning and individual data products. Scott Luthcke [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)—GEDI Co-Investigator (Co-I)] presented status updates for the GEDI Science Operating Center (SOC), including the Science Planning System (SPS) and Science Data Processing System (SDPS) automation, development, and processing. In addition, he reported on the status of the L1 geolocated waveform data product and the L3 gridded land surface metrics product. At the time of this meeting, the SPS had completed operations through mission week 223 – almost 4.5 years of data – and was beginning to transition to improving processes on the back end while GEDI hibernates. The SDPS had completed processing and delivery of all V2 data products to the LP DAAC and ORNL DAAC. Luthcke reported on GEDI’s current observed and estimated geolocation performance, including detailed summaries of component analysis and steps towards improving Precision Orbit Determination (POD), Precision Attitude Determination (PAD), Pointing Calibration, time-tag correction, and Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator (OCXO) calibration. GEDI passes over Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat located in Bolivia – see Figure 3, are being used to assess the PAD high-frequency and low-frequency errors. Estimated errors are shown to be consistent with observed geolocation errors. Finally, Luthcke gave a summary of completed L3 products and new wall-to-wall 1-km (0.62-mi) resolution and high-resolution products. Figure 3. Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat as seen from the International Space Station. Figure credit: Samantha Cristoforetti/ESA/NASA John Armston [UMD—GEDI Co-I] updated attendees on GEDI L2 products. L2A consists of elevation and height metrics, and L2B consists of canopy cover and vertical profile metrics. To assess GEDI ground and canopy top measurement accuracy and improve algorithm performance, the mission team is using data collected from NASA Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS) campaigns from 2016 to present. Armston reported that L2B estimates of canopy and ground reflectance were completed for the first mission epoch (April 2019–March 2023) and the GEDI team continues to work on algorithm improvements for cover estimates in challenging conditions (e.g., steep slopes). Data users can expect improved waveform processing for ground elevation and canopy height, new reflectance estimation, and revised quality metrics and flags in the L2A and L2B not-yet-released V3 products. Jim Kellner [Brown University—GEDI Co-I] shared the current status of and planned algorithm improvements to the L4A data product, or the footprint-level aboveground biomass density product. The algorithm theoretical basis document for L4A data products was published in November 2022; it describes how models were developed and the importance of quality filtering. L4A data product development continues in tandem with updates to L2A data and improvements to existing calibration and validation data and ingestion of new data. Sean Healey [U.S. Forest Service—GEDI Co-I] reviewed coverage and uncertainties of the recently produced V2 L4B data products – see Figure 4. Ongoing GEDI-relevant research includes: investigating a statistical method called bootstrapping, which may allow more complex types of models; conducting theoretical statistical studies aimed at decomposing mean square error for model-based methods; and developing ways to estimate biomass change over time – which will become more important as the extended mission potentially stretches to a decade. Figure 4. Gridded mean aboveground biomass density [top] and standard error of the mean [bottom] from Version 2.1 of the GEDI L4B Gridded Aboveground Biomass Density product, published on October 29, 2023. Figure credit: ORNL DAAC Competed Science Team Presentations—Session 1 This GEDI STM was the last convergence of the first iteration of the GEDI competed ST. Attendees received final in-person updates on the cohort’s projects and plans for future research. Over the course of the three-day meeting, there were several sections dedicated to Competed ST Presentations. For purposes of organization in this report, each section has been given a session number. Taejin Park [NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC) and Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI)] kicked off the ST presentations with an overview of his group’s progress in enhancing the predictions of forest height and aboveground biomass by incorporating GEDI L2, L3, and L4 data products into a process-based model, called Allometric Scaling Resource Limitation (ASRL), over the contiguous ******* States (CONUS). The ASRL model effectively captures large-scale, maximum tree size distribution and facilitates prognostic applications for predicting future aboveground biomass changes under various climate scenarios. Park also described collaborative research efforts with international partners to map changes in aboveground biomass in tropical and temperate forests using a carbon management systems (CMS). Kerri Vierling [University of Idaho] shared the results from her team’s projects demonstrating the use of GEDI data fusion products to describe patterns of bird and mammal distributions in western U.S. forests. The focal species for these projects include a suite of vertebrate forest carnivores, prey, and ecosystem engineer species that modify their environments in ways that create habitat for other creatures, e.g., woodpeckers – see Figure 5. Many of these species are of interest for management by a variety of state and federal agencies. Vierling also discussed ongoing analyses identifying biodiversity hotspots and land ownership patterns. Figure 5. A Female downy woodpecker creates a tree cavity that other organisms may use in the future for habitat. Woodpecker species are great examples of ecosystem engineers. Figure credit: Doug Swartz/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab or Ornithology (ML 58304661) Sean Healey presented on his competed ST research on Online Biomass Inference using Waveforms and iNventory (OBI-WAN), a Google Earth Engine application. This forest-carbon reporting tool harnesses GEDI waveforms, biomass models, and statistics to make estimates of mean biomass and biomass change for areas specified by online users. Healey explained the statistical methods applied to operate OBI-WAN and gave context for the use of sensor fusion to provide biomass change information that is critical for monitoring, reporting, and verification. Keith Krause [Battelle] presented his work evaluating vertical structural similarity of LVIS classic and GEDI large-footprint waveforms. At the GEDI and LVIS footprint scale (20–23 m, or 65–75 ft, spot on the ground), lidar waveforms over forests represent canopies of leaves and branches from several trees. Krause presented results comparing waveforms against each other to show similarities in shape (i.e., if the trees in their footprints have a similar vertical structure). He also described how he used data clustering techniques to group similar waveforms into distinct structural classes. From there, he could map waveforms with similar vertical structure to better understand the spatial distribution of the structural groups. Breakout Sessions—Session 1 GEDI STMs offer a rare opportunity for members of the competed and mission STs, a variety of stakeholders, and other individuals to convene and discuss ideas and goals for their own research and for the GEDI mission. Toward that end, breakout sessions were held on the first and second day of the meeting – referred to as Session 1 and Session 2 in this report. The individual breakout meetings used a hybrid format allowing in-person and online participants to join the discussion that was most relevant to their interests and expertise. Chris Hakkenberg [Northern Arizona University (NAU)] led a breakout session on structural diversity, including the horizontal and vertical components. Different structural attributes, (e.g., stand structure, height, cover, and vegetation density) have different – but related – metrics and measurement approaches. Participants discussed biodiversity-structure relationships (BSRs), how to better characterize horizontal structural diversity, and how to define which metrics (i.e., scale, sampling unit, and spatial resolution) are most meaningful in different situations. Jim Kellner led a session that focused on biomass calibration and validation and how to create the best data products given global environmental variation. Special cases – e.g., mangroves – pose challenges for calibration and validation because they don’t always have as much plot-level data as other environments. Participants discussed how to determine strata while considering climactic and environmental covariates as well as constraints of data availability and consistency. Competed Science Team Presentations—Session 2 The FORest Carbon Estimation (FORCE) Project is exploring the use of GEDI-derived canopy structure metrics to map forest biomass in the U.S. and Canada. Daniel Hayes [University of Maine] presented comparisons of GEDI metrics and canopy height models derived from airborne lidar and photo point clouds over different forest types and disturbance history in managed forests of Maine. Co-PI Andy Finley [Michigan State University] presented new work that adjusts GEDI L4B biomass estimates to plot data over the continental U.S. from Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Research and Development Branch. The project’s next steps are to fuse GEDI canopy structure metrics with other covariates in a spatial model to produce wall-to-wall estimates of biomass for boreal–temperate transition forests in northeast North America. GEDI data is also being used to study tropical forests. Chris Doughty [NAU] described how he and his team analyzed GEDI L2A data across all tropical forests and found that tropical forest structure was less stratified and more exposed to sunlight than previously thought. Most tropical forests (80% of the Amazon and 70% of southeast Asia and the Congo Basin) have a peak in the number of leaves at 15 m (49 ft) instead of at the canopy top. Doughty and his team have found that deviation from more ideal conditions (i.e., lower fertility or higher temperatures) lead to shorter, less-stratified tropical forests with lower biomass. Paul Moorcroft [Harvard University] reported on studies of current and future carbon dynamics across the Pacific Coast region based on forest structure and rates of carbon uptake. Moorcroft’s group examined how these ecosystems will behave in the future under different climate scenarios and have plans to conduct similar studies in other regions. DAY TWO Naikoa Aguilar-Amuchastegui [World Bank] kicked off day two with his perspective on the importance of streamlining the monitoring, reporting, and validation (MRV) process from scientific estimation to actual use of the data. Once scientific data is generated, end users are often faced with challenges related to transparency and understandability. Scientists can better communicate how to use their datasets properly, by familiarizing themselves with who wants to use their data, why they want to use it, and what their needs are. With this information in mind, data can be presented in more practical ways that allow for a variety of institutions with different standards and frameworks to integrate GEDI data more easily into their reporting. As the GEDI team continues to produce high-quality maps, efforts are underway to connect with end users and provide tutorials, workshops, and other resources. GEDI Demonstrative Products Demonstrative products show how GEDI data can be used in practice and in combination with other resources. Ecosystem modeling is one way that GEDI data are being used to address questions about aboveground carbon balance, future atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and habitat quality and biodiversity. George Hurtt [UMD—GEDI Co-I] shared his progress on integrating GEDI canopy height measurements with the Ecosystem Demography model to estimate current global forest carbon stocks and project future sequestration gaps under climate change – see Figure 6. Hurtt emphasized that this unprecedented volume of lidar data significantly enhances the ability of carbon models to capture spatial heterogeneity of forest carbon dynamics at 1 km (0.6 mi) scale, which is crucial for local policymaking regarding climate mitigation. Figure 6. [Top] Average lidar canopy height at 0.01° resolution, computed by gridding both GEDI and ICESat-2 together, and carbon stocks [middle] and fluxes [bottom] from ED-Lidar (GEDI and ICESat-2 combined). The insets highlight fine-scale spatial distribution and coverage gaps at selected regions (1.5° × 1.5°). Note that the three maps show grid-cell averages aggregated from sub-grid scale heterogeneity for each variable. Figure credit: From a 2023 article in Global Change Biology. There is also great potential for the development and application of methods for mapping forest structure, carbon stocks, and their changes by fusing data from GEDI and the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt’s (DLR) [******* Space Operations Center] TerraSAR-X Add-oN for Digital Elevation Measurement (TanDEM-X) satellite mission, which uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to gather three-dimensional (3D) images of Earth’s surface. This fusion product is being spearheaded by Wenlu Qi [UMD], who presented on efforts to create maps of pantropical canopy height, biomass, forest structure, and biomass change using the fusion product as well as maps of forests in temperate U.S. and Hawaii. Data from the GEDI mission are also being used to quantify the spatial and temporal distribution of habitat structure, which influences habitat quality and biodiversity. Scott Goetz [NAU—GEDI Deputy PI] presented on biodiversity-related activities, citing a 2023 paper in Nature that examined the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) across southeast Asia using GEDI data to compare canopy structure within and outside of PAs – see Figure 7. He also presented an analysis of tree and plant diversity across U.S. National Ecological Observation Network (NEON) sites that showed similar capabilities of GEDI with airborne laser scanning (ALS) for tree diversity. Figure 7. [Top] Protected Areas (PAs) such as national parks can reduce habitat loss and degradation (from logging) and extractive behaviors such as hunting (shown in red circle), but this figure shows there are a wide range of real-world outcomes based on management effectiveness. [Middle] PAs are aimed at safeguarding multiple facets of biodiversity, including species richness (SR), functional richness (FR) and phylogenetic diversity (***). PAs often focus on vertebrate conservation, owing to their threat levels and value to humans – including for tourism. This study focused on wildlife in southeast Asia, with mammals shown here representing a variation of feeding guilds and sizes. The same approach is repeated for birds. [Bottom] Wildlife communities inside PAs and in the surrounding landscape may exhibit distinct levels and types of diversity. Figure credit: From a 2023 article in Nature. Competed Science Team Presentations—Session 3 One unique application of GEDI data is using lidar height to improve radiative transfer models for snow processes. Steven Hancock [University of Edinburgh, Scotland] reported on his group’s work studying snow, forest structure, and heterogeneity in forests, explaining that the majority of land surface models used for climate and weather forecasting use one-dimensional (1D) radiative transfer (RT) models driven by leaf area alone. Heterogeneous forests cast shadows and cause the surface albedo to depend upon sun angle and tree height for moderate leaf area indices (LAI), i.e., LAI values from 1-3 – which are common in snow-affected areas. This complexity cannot be represented in 1D models. An RT model can represent the effect of tree height and horizontal heterogeneity to simulate the observed change in albedo with height, which itself spatially varies. In contrast to a snowy study area, Ovidiu Csillik [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory] and his team are developing statistical models to link GEDI relative height metrics to tropical forest characteristics traceable to inventory measurements. This dataset of forest structure variables over the Amazon will be used to initialize a demographic ecosystem model to produce projections of future potential tropical forest carbon, as demonstrated by Amazon-wide simulations using initializations from airborne lidar sampling. Wenge Ni-Meister [Hunter College of the City University of New York] is working on improving aboveground biomass estimates using GEDI waveform measurements. Ni-Meister and her team are testing models in both domestic and international tropical and temperate forests. Breakout Sessions—Session 2 Two more breakout sessions occurred on day two: Sean Healey led a discussion on modes of inference for GEDI data. Inference – formally derived uncertainty for area estimates of biomass, height, or other metrics – can take different forms, each of which includes specific assumptions. In this breakout session, participants considered the strengths and limitations of different inference types (e.g., intensity of computation or the ability to use different models). Laura Duncanson [UMD—GEDI Co-I] led a discussion about facilitation of open science, in other words, how to make GEDI data more accessible and digestible for data users. While GEDI data area free and publicly available via the LP DAAC and ORNL DAAC, gaining access to said data can be intimidating. Sharing more about existing resources and creating new ones can help remove barriers. The LP DAAC and ORNL DAAC have excellent tutorials on GitHub (a cloud-based software development platform that is primarily Python-based), and Google Earth Engine applications are available for accessing and visualizing GEDI data. Future endeavors may include more webinars, R-based tutorials, workshops, and trainings on specific topics and ways to use GEDI data. More information is available via an online compilation of GEDI-related tutorials. Perspective: A NUVIEW of Earth’s Land Surface For the second perspective presentation of day two, meeting attendees heard from Clint Graumann, CEO and co-founder of NUVIEW, a company whose mission is to build a commercial satellite constellation of lidar-imaging satellites that will produce 3D maps of the Earth’s entire land surface. Graumann shared NUVIEW’s intent to produce land surface maps on an annual basis and provide a variety of products and services, including digital surface models (DSMs), digital terrain models (DTMs), and a point cloud generated by laser pulses. Competed Science Team Presentations—Session 4 Laura Duncanson began the second round of science presentations with her group’s research on global forest carbon hotspots. She discussed her 2023 paper in Nature Communications on the effectiveness of global PAs for climate change mitigation – see Figure 8, which found that the creation of PAs led to more biomass – especially in the Amazon. Within GEDI-domain terrestrial PAs, total aboveground biomass (AGB) storage was found to be 125 Pg, which is around 26% of global estimated AGB. Without the existence of PAs, 19.7 Gt of the 125 Pg would have likely been lost. Figure 8. PAs effectively preserve additional aboveground carbon (AGC) across continents and biomes, with forest biomes dominating the global signal, particularly in South America. The additional preserved AGC (Gt) in WWF biome classes (total Gt + /− SEM*area). World base map made with Natural Earth. The full set of analyzed GEDI data are represented in this figure (n = 412,100,767). Figure credit: From a 2023 article in Nature Communications. Another unique application of GEDI data has to do with water on the Earth’s surface. Kyungtae Lee [UMD], who works with Michelle Hofton [UMD—GEDI Co-I], reported that GEDI appears to capture the monthly annual cycle of lake elevation, showing good correlation with the ground-based observations. Lee explained that even though the GEDI lake elevation estimates show systematic biases relative to the local gauges, GEDI captures lake elevation dynamics well – especially the annual cycle variations. This work has the potential to expand knowledge of hydrological significance of lakes, particularly in data-limited areas of the world. Stephen Good [Oregon State University] presented a survey of his team’s recent work integrating observations from GEDI into hydrology and hydraulics studies of how vegetation can block and intercept moving water. The team found important nonlinear relationships between inferred canopy storage and canopy biomass and were able to estimate canopy water storage capacities and map these globally. Finally, Patrick Burns [NAU], who works with Scott Goetz, presented results using GEDI canopy structure metrics in mammal species distribution models across southeast Asia (specifically focusing on Borneo and Sumatra). The team’s early results indicate that GEDI canopy structure metrics are important in many mammal distribution models and improve model performance for another smaller subset of species. In other words, when looking at predictors like mean annual precipitation or forest structure (forest structure being a metric that GEDI data provide), the GEDI-derived structure metrics are more intuitive and help us understand distributional changes and fine-scale habitat suitability. In a region like southeast Asia, for example, which has undergone high rates of deforestation in the recent decades, forest structure may be a more relevant predictor in a species distribution model (SDM) than other metrics like climate or vegetation composition. The team will continue to produce models for additional species and expand the extent of the analysis to include mainland Asia. DAY THREE Competed Science Team Presentations—Session 5 Day three began with the meeting’s last round of competed ST presentations. John Armston presented the progress of GEDI L2B Plant Area Volume Density (PAVD) product validation using a global Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) database and fusion of the L2B product with Landsat time-series for quantifying change in canopy structure from the *********** wildfires of 2019–2020. Participants then heard from Jim Kellner on using machine-learning algorithms for L4A aboveground biomass density (AGBD). The performance of machine-learning algorithms on a testing data set was comparable to linear regressions used for the first releases of GEDI AGBD data products on average – although there were important geographical differences associated with machine learning. One application under investigation is using machine learning to identify new potential stratifications for GEDI footprint aboveground biomass density. Lastly, Jingyu Dai [New Mexico State University (NMSU)], who works with Niall Hanan [NMSU], presented on her analysis of the global limits to tree height. Her study shows that hydraulic limitation is the most important constraint on maximum canopy height globally. This result is mediated by plant functional type. In addition, rougher terrain promotes forest height at sub-landscape scales by enriching local niche diversity and probability of larger trees. Perspective from the Data Side As described in the summary of Ralph Dubayah’s introductory remarks, the LP DAAC and ORNL DAAC play essential roles in the dissemination of GEDI data and the success of the GEDI program. Representatives from each of these DAACs addressed the ST to summarize recent GEDI-related activities. Aaron Friesz [******* States Geological Survey (USGS)] represented the LP DAAC and gave an update on the current archive size, distribution metrics, and outreach activities. He also discussed plans to support the growth and sustainability of the community through collaboration activities that will leverage the GitHub application; he described some of the resources that are available. Friesz then highlighted the USGS Eyes on Earth podcast and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS)’s Down to Earth podcast, which have featured Ralph Dubayah and Laura Duncanson, and shared plans to update the current GitHub tutorials and how-to guides in the Earthdata Cloud of GEDI V2 and V3. Rupesh Shrestha [ORNL] represented the ORNL DAAC and shared the status of GEDI L3, L4A, and L4B datasets archived there. He gave an overview of data tools and services for the GEDI datasets, which can be found on the GEDI website and GitHub tutorials website. GEDI L3, L4A, and L4B are available on NASA’s Earthdata Cloud and various enterprise-level services, such as NASA’s WorldView, Harmony, and OpenDAP. GEDI data usage metrics, data tutorials and workshops, and outreach activities, as well as other published community and related datasets were also highlighted. GEDI L3, L4A, and L4B have been downloaded over four million times collectively. Neha Hunka [UMD] gave the final presentation of the meeting on biomass harmonization activities. She reported that the GEDI estimates of aboveground biomass are capable of directly contributing to the ******* Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Global Stocktake. Hunka and her colleagues’ research is aimed at bridging the science–policy gap to enable the use of space-based aboveground biomass estimates for policy reporting and impact – see Figure 9. Figure 9. Forest biomass estimates in the format of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier 1 values from NASA GEDI and ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) maps. Figure credit: Neha Hunka Conclusion Overall, the 2023 GEDI STM showcased an exceptional array of scientific research that is highly relevant to addressing pressing global challenges and answering key questions about global forest structure, carbon balance, habitat quality, and biodiversity among other topics. As the GEDI instrument enters its second epoch, we are excited to welcome a new competed GEDI science team cohort and look forward to the release of V3 data products later this year. Ralph Dubayah concluded the STM with a summary of hibernation ******* goals and a farewell to this iteration of the competed ST. He extended a heartfelt thank you and farewell to Hank Margolis [NASA Headquarters, emeritus] who has been the NASA Program Scientist for the GEDI mission since 2015. Thank you, Hank. We will miss you. Talia Schwelling University of Maryland, College Park *****@*****.tld View the full article

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) launched together from Cape Canaveral Air Force, now Space Force, Station on June 18, 2009, atop an Atlas V launch vehicle. The primary mission of the LRO, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, involved imaging the entire Moon’s surface to create a 3-D map with ~50-centimeter resolution to aid in the planning of future robotic and crewed missions. In addition, LRO would map the polar regions and search for the presence of water ice. Although its primary mission intended to last only one year, it continues to operate after 15 years in lunar orbit. The LCROSS, managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, planned to further investigate the presence of water ice in permanently shaded areas of the Moon’s polar regions. The two components of LCROSS, the Centaur upper stage of the launch vehicle and the Shepherding Satellite, planned to deliberately ****** into the Moon. Instruments on Earth and aboard LRO and the LCROSS Shepherding Satellite would observe the resulting plumes and analyze them for the presence of water. Left: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), top, silver, and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), bottom, gold, spacecraft during placement inside the launch shroud. Right: Launch of LRO and LCROSS on an Atlas V rocket. The LRO spacecraft carries seven scientific instruments: the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) to characterize the lunar radiation environment; the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE) to identify areas cold enough to trap ice; the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LMAP) to search for ice in the lunar polar regions; the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) to create a map of hydrogen distribution and to determine the neutron component of the lunar radiation environment; the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) to measure slopes and roughness of potential landing sites; the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) consisting of two-narrow angle and one wide-angle camera to take high-resolution images of the lunar surface; and the Mini Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) experiment, an advanced radar system to image the polar regions and search for water ice. Left: Illustration of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and its scientific instruments. Right: Illustration of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and its scientific instruments on panel at left. The LCROSS Shepherding Satellite carried nine instruments – five cameras (one visible, two near-infrared, and two mid-infrared); three spectrometers (one visible and two near-infrared); and a photometer. They monitored the plume sent up by the impact of the Centaur upper stage. Left: Illustration of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in lunar orbit. Right: Illustration of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite’s Shepherding Satellite at left and Centaur upper stage at right prior to lunar impact. On June 23, 2009, after a four-and-a-half-day journey from Earth, LRO entered an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon. Over the next four days, four engine burns refined the spacecraft’s orbit and engineers on the ground began commissioning its instruments. The LROC returned its first image of the Moon on June 30 of an area near the Mare Nubium. On Sept. 15, 2009, LRO began its primary one-year mission to map the lunar surface from its science orbit 31 miles above the Moon. On Oct. 9, 2009, first the Centaur upper stage followed five minutes later by the LCROSS Shepherding Satellite crashed into the Moon’s Cabeus Crater near the lunar south pole. Although the impacts created smaller plumes than anticipated, instruments detected signs of water in the ejected debris. In September 2010, LRO completed its primary mapping mission and began an extended science mission around the Moon. On Dec. 17, NASA released the most detailed topographic map covering more than 98 percent of the Moon’s surface based on data from LRO’s LOLA instrument. The map continues to be updated as new data are received from the spacecraft. On March 15, 2011, LRO had made available more than 192 terabytes of data from its primary mission to the NASA Planetary Data System, or PDS, to make the information available to researchers, students, media, and the general public. LRO continues to deliver data to the PDS, having generated the largest volume of data from a NASA planetary science mission ever. Left: First high-resolution image of the Moon taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Middle: Mosaic of LRO images of the Moon’s near side. Right: Mosaic of LRO images of the Moon’s far side. Left: Mosaic of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) images of the lunar north pole. Right: Mosaic of LRO images of the lunar south pole. The LCROSS data showed that the lunar soil within shadowy craters is rich in useful materials, such as hydrogen gas, ammonia, and methane, which could be used to produce fuel for space missions. Large amounts of light metals, such as sodium, mercury, and silver, were discovered. The data revealed that there is perhaps as much as hundreds of millions of tons of frozen water on the Moon, enough to make it an effective oasis for future explorers. Thanks to its unique vantage point in a low altitude lunar orbit, LRO’s camera has taken remarkably detailed images of all six Apollo landing sites. The detail is such that not only can the Lunar Module (LM) descent stages be clearly identified, but disturbances of the lunar soil by the astronauts’ boots, the shadows of the ********* flag are visible at five of the landing sites, and the Lunar Rovers from the last three missions are even visible. The scientific instruments, and in at least three of the landing sites, the U.S. flag left by the astronauts can be discerned. The flag at the Apollo 11 site cannot be seen because it most likely was blown over by the exhaust of the LM’s ascent stage engine when the astronauts lifted off. In addition to the Apollo landing sites, LRO has also imaged ****** and soft-landing sites of other *********, *******, ********, Indian, and ******** spacecraft, including craters left by the deliberate impacts of Apollo S-IVB upper stages. It also imaged a Korean satellite in lunar orbit as the two flew within a few miles of each other at high speed. LRO also turned its camera Earthward to catch stunning Earthrise views, one image with Mars in the background, and the Moon’s shadow on the Earth during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of the Apollo 11, left, 12, and 14 landing sites. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of the Apollo 15, left, 16, and 17 landing sites. Left: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) image of Luna 17 that landed on the Moon on Nov. 17, 1970, and the tracks of the Lunokhod 1 rover that it deployed. Middle: LRO image of the Chang’e 4 lander and Yutu 2 rover that landed on the Moon’s far side on Jan. 3, 2019. Right: LRO image of the Chandrayaan 3 lander taken four days after it landed on the Moon on Aug. 23, 2023. Left: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) image of Odysseus that landed on the Moon on Feb. 22, 2024. Middle: LRO image taken on March 5, 2024, of the Danuri lunar orbiting satellite as the two passed within 3 miles of each other at a relative velocity of 7,200 miles per hour. Right: LRO image of the Chang’e 6 lander on the Moon’s farside, taken on June 7, 2024. Left: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) image of Earthrise over Compton Crater taken Oct. 12, 2015. Middle: LRO image of Earth and Mars taken Oct. 2, 2014. Right: LRO image of the total solar eclipse taken on April 8, 2024. The LRO mission continues with the spacecraft returning images and data from its instruments. LRO has enough fuel on board to operate until 2027. The spacecraft can support new robotic lunar activities and the knowledge from the mission will help aid in the return of humans to the lunar surface. 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Phil Korpeck, a magniX test engineer, sets up a magni650 electric engine in preparation for a series of simulated altitude tests. These tests took place in April 2024 inside NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed facility. NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna At a simulated 27,500 feet inside an altitude chamber at NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) facility, engineers at magniX recently demonstrated the capabilities of a battery-powered engine that could help turn hybrid electric flight into a reality. This milestone, completed in April 2024, marks the end of the first phase in a series of altitude tests at the facility under NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project. EPFD brings together expertise from NASA and various industry partners to test the feasibility of hybrid electric propulsion for future commercial aircraft. NEAT, housed within NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, offers a unique testing environment that simulates the effects of high altitudes without leaving the ground. This capability allows researchers to safely evaluate the performance of electrified aircraft propulsion systems and components under realistic flight conditions. “The testing at NEAT is critical for high-power electrified aircraft propulsion technologies because many of the potential problems that a design might encounter only present themselves at higher altitudes,” said Brad French, lead systems engineer for NASA EPFD. “We do our best to analyze machines through sea-level testing, but nothing compares to actually putting them in the environments they will experience on wing and directly observing how they behave.” Progress on the Ground At higher altitudes, electrified aircraft propulsion systems will be exposed to thinner air and greater temperature shifts that could negatively impact performance. The initial round of tests focused on investigating the effects of temperature and high voltage on the electric engine when operating at flight levels. Researchers conducted partial discharge tests, which examine the strength of the system’s electrical insulation, to help minimize risks of ******** that might occur due to excess stress on the components. They also investigated the engine’s thermal management system to better understand how heat is safely and effectively transferred throughout the machine. At a control room in NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed facility, NASA electrical lead Mark Worley, right, technical lead Nuha Nawash, and software engineer Joseph Staudt, left, monitor altitude testing telemetry via video monitors in April 2024. NASA/Jef Janis “The development of new technologies is a methodical and incremental process,” French said. “By testing these systems in a controlled environment, we can verify that they operate safely and as expected, or isolate and solve any problems before they pose a significant risk.” Gearing Up for Hybrid Electric Flight Tests Under EPFD, magniX is retrofitting a De Havilland Dash 7 aircraft with a new hybrid electric propulsion system that combines traditional turbo-propellor engines with electric motors. This vehicle will be used to demonstrate fuel ***** and emission reductions in regional aircraft carrying up to 50 passengers, helping advance NASA’s mission to make air travel more sustainable. The company recently completed baseline flight testing of the Dash 7 in Moses Lake, Washington, surveying the state of the aircraft prior to modification. Data gathered from these flight tests will help the team compare fuel savings and performance boosts with the new electrified system. With baseline flight tests complete, magniX will begin modifying the aircraft in preparation for hybrid electric flight tests planned for 2026. Baseline flight testing of magniX’s De Havilland Dash 7 aircraft in Moses Lake, Washington during April 2024 prior to hybrid electric system modifications. magniX In the meantime, the next phase of ground tests at NEAT is slated for the summer of 2024 and will evaluate these systems under more extreme flight conditions, including higher power levels and temperatures. Each round of testing will provide more insight that will eventually help identify new standards and regulations required for future electrified aircraft. In addition to magniX, NASA works with GE Aerospace to explore other design configurations and approaches for hybridizing commercial aircraft. GE also completed altitude tests of their hybrid electric propulsion system at NEAT in 2022. NASA, with GE and magniX, are accelerating the development and introduction of electrified aircraft propulsion technologies through NEAT while gathering a rich archive of scientific data. This will help inform advanced electrified aircraft propulsion system concepts and formulate new research areas and technologies to enable a sustainable aviation future. Explore More 4 min read Globetrotting NASA Research Model Increases Accuracy Article 1 day ago 1 min read NASA Glenn Visits Duluth for Air and Aviation Expo, STEAM Festival Article 7 days ago 1 min read TECH Day at NASA Attracts Middle School Students Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Missions Artemis Climate Change Aeronautics STEM Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 EditorAnisha EngineerContactAnisha Engineer*****@*****.tld Related TermsAeronauticsAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateElectrified Powertrain Flight DemoGlenn Research CenterGreen Aviation TechIntegrated Aviation Systems Program View the full article

Astronauts pictured completing an installation outside of the International Space Station.Credits: NASA NASA will provide live coverage as astronauts conduct two spacewalks outside the International Space Station scheduled for Monday, June 24 and Tuesday, July 2. The first spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. EDT June 24, and last about six and a half hours. NASA will provide live coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. NASA will stream the spacewalk on NASA+, NASA Television’s public channel, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Mike Barratt will exit the station’s Quest airlock to complete the removal of a faulty electronics box, called a radio frequency group, from a communications antenna on the starboard truss of the space station. The pair also will collect samples for analysis to understand the ability of microorganisms to survive and reproduce on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory. Dyson will serve as spacewalk crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Barratt will serve as spacewalk crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. U.S. spacewalk 90 will be the fourth spacewalk for Dyson and the third spacewalk for Barratt. It is the 271st spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. U.S. spacewalk 90 was initially scheduled for June 13 but did not proceed as scheduled because of a spacesuit discomfort issue. The second spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. July 2, and last about six and a half hours. NASA will provide live coverage beginning at 7:30 a.m. Astronauts will remove and replace a gyroscope assembly, relocate an antenna, and prepare for future Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer upgrades. NASA will stream the spacewalk on NASA+, NASA Television’s public channel, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Following the completion of U.S. spacewalk 90, NASA will provide an update with participating crew members for U.S. spacewalk 91. It is the 272nd spacewalk in support of space station. Get breaking news, images, and features from the space station on the station blog, Instagram, Facebook, and X. Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at: [Hidden Content] -end- Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 *****@*****.tld / claire.a.o’*****@*****.tld Sandra Jones / Anna Schneider Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 sandra.p*****@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsInternational Space Station (ISS)AstronautsHumans in SpaceISS ResearchMichael R. BarrattTracy Caldwell Dyson View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Science Instruments Science Highlights News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Exploration All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 6 min read Sols 4219-4221: It’s a Complex Morning… There are many whiteish rocks in the area that lately attracted the team’s special interest, as this image, taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4217 (2024-06-17 02:10:34 UTC) shows. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, June 17, 2024 Who thought it was a good idea to select a name with the word ‘mammoth’ in it? Well, we don’t remember who did it, and if we did, we wouldn’t say anyways… but these rocks take ‘Mammoth Lakes’ and seem to translate it into ‘Mammoth Effort’ for the team here on Earth! You may have seen my colleague Conor’s blog about ‘The best ***** plans’, and today we tried again. For a start, orbital mechanics wasn’t our friend on this nervous Monday morning: the data we needed reached us – as scheduled – in the early morning hours; hence assessment could only begin shortly before the normal start of the planning day. The assessment of a preload test is not a quick task as it concerns rover health and safety. Even with over 11 years of experience, engineers want to look very, very closely. Or shall I say, ******* in cheek, after over 11 years of experience we want to look even closer as we have seen many of the ways Mars rocks can play tricks on us and we are pretty sure that the rocks have even more surprises up their sleeves! We don’t want to get caught out by… a rock! With that assessment still ongoing (can you feel the nerves?!), the team had to start planning assuming we would go ahead with the drill. I was Geo Science Theme Lead today, and it was my task to help navigate through the things that we would want to do, if we pass the preload assessment and are going to drill. And it was also agreed that if this isn’t going to work today, we would try another preload test. The science team really wants to see what these bright rocks are made of, as bright, almost white colour on a basaltic planet always means that it is different and interesting.. Water rock interactions are my favourite possible explanation, but I don’t want to speculate, I prefer to interpret data… but those would come after the drill! Cliffhanger, part one, we kept asking those with an ear close to the engineering rooms for updates, but the only updates were that there are no updates… yet. I am not good at waiting, are you? We were planning four sols today, but one of them is a ‘soliday’ – a day on Earth with no corresponding sol on Mars. They come up occasionally to re-synchronise Earth and Mars timings (and to not make downlinks even closer to start of planning). This is because an Earth day is 24 hours long, but a Mars day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds long. Therefore, Mars and Earth days get slowly but surely out of sync and planning would have to happen in the middle of the Earth night. Therefore, Curiosity gets a break thanks to orbital mechanics (and human sleep patterns). But just before Curiosity gets a break (and the humans, too, for Juneteenth), there is a lot of work to do, even with this cliffhanger still ongoing. The plan started – optimistically, and yes, with the cliffhanger STILL ongoing – with the full drill and everything we always do to assess whether the drill is successful. This includes an image of the newly accomplished (hopefully, are you keeping your fingers crossed?!) drill *****, an image of the drill bit inspecting our tools, and a ChemCem Remote Micro Imager mosaic of the drill *****. ChemCam also does a passive spectral investigation of the drill tailings (are you still holding your breath that we even get to uplink the commands?!). Most of the drill activities happen on sol 4219, and just the ChemCam activities happen in sol 4220. Also, on sol 4220 ChemCam investigates the target “Longley Pass,” which is also a whitish rock. Well, if these rocks play tricks on us and make us wait this long for an answer, we can at least ****** them with a laser and get some more data this way. Mastcam documents the ChemCam target Longley Pass and does two more single frame images of the targets “Walker Lake2” and “Finch Lake,” both of which you will have seen in previous blogs. They are part of a change detection campaign, where we repeatedly image the same location to find out if the sand moves. This helps with assessing the current winds on Mars. But that’s just the warm up for Mastcam, which will then embark on a 334 image journey 360° around the rover, also known as a 360-panorama. Given the very exciting landscape, we are all very much looking forward to getting to see this! But before that, the question is still there: will we get the go for drilling?! It’s one and a half hours into planning, and we still don’t know. Finally on sol 4221 there is more ChemCam laser activity, this time on the target Quarry Peak, and there is a long-distance mosaic by ChemCam, too, to further document all the different sedimentary structures around us. Last but not least, our part of the plan had some ‘homework’ in form of a ChemCam calibration activity. There is more, of course, as the environmental group looks at dust devils and the opacity of the atmosphere and the DAN instrument performs its routine cadence of measurements. It’s a fully packed plan! And the cliffhanger? Well, not so fast… after the initial planning meeting everyone who has assembled parts of the plan will meet in the so-called Science Operations Working Group meeting. I was really hoping for a result then, but we were told we had to wait just a little longer. Mars doesn’t make things easy, and we fully trust the engineers to make the right call. But will that call be the one the scientist in me wants? Will we drill? We got through all of this meeting and about an hour later had a fully integrated plan, and still no word from the engineers. Come on, Mars, do you have to make it this hard?! Planning rarely gets this tight and nerve wracking to be honest. But then, when Mars decides to write the script, we can either decide that we forego the measurement… or that we try again. And try again was what we were after. Almost two hours of planning done, time for a break in the planning meeting cadence and dinner in my part of the world, but I wasn’t really hungry, to be honest. I just wanted to hear the outcome. And finally, 3 hours and 38 minutes after the start of planning, “GO GO GO” accompanied by a smiley with a wide grin appeared in the chat, straight from Ashwin, the project scientist. And breathe… Let’s hope Mars rewards our brilliant engineers’ efforts! Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Perseverance Finds Popcorn on Planet Mars After months of driving, Perseverance has finally arrived at ‘Bright Angel’, discovering oddly textured rock… Article 2 hours ago 4 min read Sols 4216-4218: Another ‘Mammoth’ Plan! Article 15 hours ago 3 min read Sols 4214–4215: The Best-***** Plans… Article 5 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars… All Mars Resources Rover Basics Mars Exploration Science Goals View the full article

NASA/Brandon Torres NASA astronaut Nicole Mann waves as she is introduced before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the San Francisco Giants versus Los Angeles Angels game at Oracle Park in San Francisco on June 14, 2024. Mann was honored for her accomplishments at the Giants’ Native ********* Heritage Night. She is the first Indigenous woman from NASA to go to space, having served as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission, which launched in 2022. View the full article

Perseverance Perseverance Mission Overview Rover Components Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Science Objectives Science Instruments Science Highlights News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Exploration All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 2 min read Perseverance Finds Popcorn on Planet Mars Mars Perseverance Sol 1175 – Right Mastcam-Z Camera: A jumbled field of light toned rocks with unusual ‘popcorn’-like textures and abundant mineral veins. NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Right Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover’s mast. This image was acquired on June 10, 2024 (Sol 1175) at the local mean solar time of 14:04:57. NASA/JPL-Caltech/**** After months of driving, Perseverance has finally arrived at ‘Bright Angel’, discovering oddly textured rock unlike any the rover has seen before. The team now plans to drive up the slope to uncover the origin of this rock sequence and its relationship to the margin unit. Having completed a survey of the intriguing and diverse boulders at ‘Mount Washburn,’ the rover headed north, parking just in front of an exposure of layered light toned rock. This provided the team with our first close-up look of the rocks that make up the ‘Bright Angel’ exposure, so Perseverance stopped to acquire images, before driving west to a larger and more accessible outcrop where the rover will conduct detailed exploration. Perseverance arrived at the base of this outcrop on sol 1175, and geologists on the science team were mesmerized by the strange textures of the light toned rocks found there. These rocks are filled with sharp ridges that resemble the mineral veins found at the base of the fan, but there appears to be more of them here. Additionally, some rocks are densely packed with small spheres, and we’ve jokingly referred to this as a ‘popcorn’-like texture. Together, these features suggest that groundwater flowed through these rocks after they were ***** down. Next, Perseverance will gradually ascend up the rock exposure, taking measurements as it goes. Over the weekend, the abrasion tool will be used to take a close-up look and acquire detailed chemical information using the instruments on the rover’s arm. With this data in hand, the team will decide whether or not to sample. Once our exploration at ‘Bright Angel’ is complete, we will drive south back across Neretva Vallis and explore a site called ‘Serpentine Rapids’. Written by Athanasios Klidaras, Ph.D. Student at Purdue University Share Details Last Updated Jun 18, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 4 min read Sols 4216-4218: Another ‘Mammoth’ Plan! Article 14 hours ago 3 min read Sols 4214–4215: The Best-***** Plans… Article 5 days ago 2 min read Sols 4212-4214: Gearing up to Drill! Article 6 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars… All Mars Resources Rover Basics Mars Exploration Science Goals View the full article

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Science Instruments Science Highlights News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Exploration All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 4 min read Sols 4216-4218: Another ‘Mammoth’ Plan! This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4212 (2024-06-11 22:04:23 UTC) NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, June 14, 2024 At the start of this week, we did a preload test on the target “Mammoth Lakes,” the rightmost bright ellipse (DRT ellipse, so less dusty) on the workspace image above. The preload test shows the stability of the rock, making sure it doesn’t move and that it doesn’t look like it will fracture under pressure from the drill. This is obviously a very important test! For example, if the rock fractured, the arm might slip down unexpectedly, so we really want to get that confirmation before we commit to drilling here. We also want to ensure the arm can adequately control the orientation of the drill as it makes progress into the rock. Unfortunately, as Conor reported on Wednesday, the preload test didn’t give us the information that we wanted to go ahead with full drill. However, this workspace (“Whitebark Pass”) is very intriguing, so the RPs found us a second spot (“Mammoth Lakes 2”), about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) away from the original “Mammoth Lakes” to do a preload test. The GEO (Geology and Mineralogy) theme group took advantage of the extra time to further document the ****** variations and lithological types in this workspace. Mammoth Lakes is centered on the main slab, but the rim of the slab is darker in ******. APXS and MAHLI will analyze along this rim at “Loch Leven” for comparison to the center of the slab (e.g., Mammoth Lakes, analyzed by APXS and ChemCam, and imaged by Mastcam and MAHLI on sol 4212) and the whiter, pitted float rocks along the edge of the slab (e.g., “Snow Lakes”, analyzed by APXS and ChemCam, and imaged by Mastcam and MAHLI on sol 4202). ChemCam will analyze the darker material, using LIBS on “Split Lake,” about 15.8 inches (40 centimeters) away from the Loch Leven target, and the underlying bedrock farther away from the rover at “Big Five Lakes.” They will also use ChemCam passive to look at “Grass Lake” – you can see the bright DRT ellipse for this target in the center of the workspace image above, as it was an APXS and MAHLI target on sol 4209. Both LIBS targets will be imaged by Mastcam. ChemCam will also take an RMI (Remote Micro Imager) 10×1 mosaic image (i.e., one row of 10 images) of a collection of loose rocks in the distance. The Mastcam team have a very busy plan. On the morning of the first sol (4217), Mastcam will take a large 19×5 mosaic of the Texoli butte, looking at the stratigraphy and erosional surfaces under morning illumination. Then it is taking advantage of the stop here at Whitebark Pass, with two larger experiments that need to run over several sols (days). The first is a series of change-detection images on the targets “Walker Lake” and “Finch Lake,” taken at different times over multiple sols to look for movement of sand grains, etc. The second is a photometry experiment – this involves taking multiple sets of observations at specific times of day (sunset and sunrise) at the same location in order to study surface scattering properties. Mastcam will also support the ENV (environmental) theme group today, taking a series of tau images to help constrain dust levels in the atmosphere. ENV have stuffed their section of the plan with dust ****** scans and movies, and zenith (looking directly upwards) and suprahorizon (looking in a more horizontal direction) movies, in addition to regular DAN, RAD and REMS activities. APXS will also take an atmospheric measurement, overnight on the second sol, specifically to track seasonal argon changes. Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick Share Details Last Updated Jun 17, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 3 min read Sols 4214–4215: The Best-***** Plans… Article 4 days ago 2 min read Sols 4212-4214: Gearing up to Drill! Article 5 days ago 2 min read Bright Rocks and “Bright Angel” Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Mars Mars is no place for the faint-hearted. It’s dry, rocky, and bitter cold. The fourth planet from the Sun, Mars… All Mars Resources Rover Basics Mars Exploration Science Goals View the full article

Credits: NASA NASA has awarded a contract to Vertex Aerospace, LLC of Madison, Mississippi, for labor support to ensure continuing safe operations of the Sonny Carter Training Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory Operations Contract II has a two-year base ******* that begins Oct. 1, followed by five option periods ranging from one to two years with a possible extension of services through 2034. The total potential value of the contract is $265.2 million. The contract includes a cost-plus-award-fee portion, which covers the core work of the contract, and an option to transition to cost-plus-fixed-fee and back again. Under the contract, Vertex Aerospace will provide technical, managerial, and administrative work needed to ensure the reliability of integrated hardware and software systems used at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory to prepare astronauts for human spaceflight missions. The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory is a unique facility that is available at all times for critical training and mission support operations, and is kept in a ready state to support the dynamic nature of human spaceflight. The laboratory features a 6.2-million-gallon pool, an essential tool for spacewalk training, simulates the weightlessness experienced by astronauts in space. Learn more about NASA and agency programs at: [Hidden Content] -end- Tiernan Doyle Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Chelsey Ballarte Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 17, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsNeutral Buoyancy LabJohnson Space CenterNASA Centers & Facilities View the full article

Maya FarrHenderson’s first day at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston involved the usual new hire setup and training tasks, but also something special: A tour of the CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) and HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) habitats. “It was such a thrill to start my career at NASA standing in a simulated Martian habitat. It felt like a look toward the future – a reminder of this is where we are going,” she said. Maya FarrHenderson stands outside of the CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Image courtesy of Maya FarrHenderson As a contract research coordinator working with the Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory under the Human Health and Performance Contract, FarrHenderson directly contributes to both CHAPEA and HERA. She supports data collection and analysis for multiple research projects conducted in those analog environments, as well as in-flight research aboard the International Space Station. “Our work excites me because we have the opportunity to answer questions that will support long-duration spaceflight missions and future missions to Mars,” she said. “It is gratifying to know our research can build an evidence base that will help promote both physiological and mental health and reduce risks related to human spaceflight.” FarrHenderson enjoys the dynamic nature of her role, noting that aspects of her work can change on a weekly basis. “I also work with different labs and teams apart from my own, and I always find it interesting to see the varying perspectives and approaches to problem solving that come from different disciplines,” she said. FarrHenderson is relatively new to NASA – she joined the Johnson team in April 2023 – but she has already connected with several of the center’s employee resource groups (ERGs) and currently serves as the Out & Allied ERG’s (OAERG) membership secretary. “Being on the leadership team for Out & Allied has really helped me jump in feet first,” she said. Her role involves creating social events for the ERG’s members and the broader Johnson community. “It can be a small thing, but I believe our events create spaces for people to feel safe and celebrated among coworkers and friends.” Maya FarrHenderson sits in a mockup of NASA’s space exploration vehicle concept.Image courtesy of Maya FarrHenderson FarrHenderson speaks from personal experience. When she started at NASA, she was uncertain if she would feel safe being out at work, but seeing how active OAERG was and how the agency celebrated LGBTQI+ Pride Month made her feel much more comfortable. Joining the ERG’s leadership team also enabled her to meet people across different organizations and gain a better understanding of the Johnson and NASA community. She understands that some colleagues may hesitate to join an ERG because they do not identify as part of the community the group represents, but those individuals could still be allies. “Allies have a critical responsibility to aid progress in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives,” she said. “OAERG even has ally in the name, that is how important it is to be there for groups you are not necessarily a part of. Listen and learn from members, determine how you can collaborate, and follow through.” FarrHenderson believes that leadership’s support for ERGs and facilitation of events like Johnson’s recent DEIA Day have created a welcoming environment. Ensuring the center’s facilities reflect that environment, including increasing gender-neutral bathroom availability onsite, would promote even greater inclusivity, she said. She also encourages team members to use every opportunity to support those who are underrepresented. “Allyship and collaboration are truly key,” she said. “It is lots and lots of small moments that contribute to a more equitable and inclusive environment.” View the full article

Several hundred new faces walked through the gates of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the first time on June 3. Who is this small army of motivated space-enthusiasts? It’s Goddard’s 2024 summer intern cohort. Across Goddard’s campuses, more than 300 on-site and virtual interns spend the 10-week program contributing across all manners of disciplines, science, engineering, finance, communications, and many more. From helping engineers who will send new space telescopes into orbit, to communicating NASA’s scientific discoveries to the world, this cohort of interns hopes to bring their new ideas and perspectives to Goddard this summer. About 200 interns attended summer orientation at Goddard’s Greenbelt, Maryland, campus of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, on June 3, 2024. This was the first in-person summer orientation since 2019.Credit: NASA/Jimmy Acevedo The Artemis Generation Takes Flight This group of interns is part of the Artemis Generation: they come to NASA near the culmination of the campaign that will return humanity to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and first person of ****** on the lunar surface. “I’m just excited to contribute to Artemis,” said Kate Oberlander, who just graduated from UCLA in aerospace engineering. “We’ll be helping connect communications between the Moon and Earth for the Artemis campaign, and that is so monumental. That’s exciting to be a part of.” In addition to work on their projects, interns also have networking opportunities where they can meet current NASA employees and learn about careers in aerospace. “I’ve been really enjoying getting to know my fellow interns, and also getting that professional development alongside technical skills,” said Oberlander, who plans on returning to UCLA to earn her master’s degree and learn more about optics, electromagnetics, and space exploration. She said her internship this summer will bring all her favorite subjects together. Down to Earth: Interns Work Across Fields Interns at Goddard take on a diverse set of projects across many disciplines. “It’s a lot of learning — but I love learning. I’m like a sponge,” said Addie Colwell, an environmental science student at the University of Vermont. Colwell’s internship focuses on stormwater management at Goddard. “We have to renovate the embankment of the stormwater pond,” Colwell said. “I’m assessing how that’s going to impact the wildlife there. It’s a lot of species identification and research.” Emma Stefanacci, a science communication master’s student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will be working on the astrophysics social media team. “I’m excited to see what social media looks like, as I haven’t been able to play in that realm of communications before,” said Stefanacci. She will help develop a campaign for the launch anniversary of XRISM, a telescope collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). This summer, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore also hosts a diverse intern cohort, some of whom are shown here in the Range Control Center. Goddard manages Wallops on behalf of NASA.Credit: NASA/Pat Benner Working on the Next Generation of Space Discovery Kevin Mora is a student at Arizona State University studying computer science. Mora is working on several projects this summer, one of them focusing on pipeline coding in Python to help engineers working on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. “It’s literally like a pipeline — just moving data from here to there,” Mora said. “It helps the engineers that are building Roman get stuff done faster.” The Roman Space Telescope is the next in line to carry on the Hubble and Webb legacy. Roman will have a much wider field of view than the space telescopes preceding it, giving scientists a ******* picture of the universe, and hopefully telling us more about dark matter and dark energy. Many interns are working on this space telescope, which is expected to launch by 2027. Alongside new faces in this year’s program, some interns are returning to NASA for repeat sessions. Cord Mazzetti, a recent electrical engineering graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, will be continuing work on quantum clock synchronization that he began researching at Goddard last summer. “It’s nice to be back here at NASA and to be able to ***** into my work even faster,” said Mazzetti. In-person Orientation Returns to Campus The interns’ orientation was the first to be held in-person since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Laura Schmidt, an internships specialist in NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement. “It was thrilling to welcome our incredible group of interns and host our first onsite summer orientation in five years,” Schmidt said. “The energy was palpable as we welcomed nearly 200 interns onsite at Goddard, and I have no doubt that the stage is set for a fantastic summer ahead.” By Avery Truman and Matthew Kaufman NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Jun 17, 2024 EditorKaty MersmannContactRob Garner*****@*****.tldLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsGoddard Space Flight CenterInternshipsPeople of Goddard View the full article

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Despite some years with significant snowfalls, long-term drought conditions in the Great Basin region of Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah, along with increasing water demands, have strained water reserves in the western U.S. As a result, inland bodies of water, including the Great Salt Lake pictured here, have shrunk dramatically, exposing lakebeds that may release toxic dust when dried.Dorothy Hall/University of Maryland Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data. Declining water levels in the Great Salt Lake and Lake Mead have been testaments to a megadrought afflicting western North America since 2000. But surface water only accounts for a fraction of the Great Basin watershed that covers most of Nevada and large portions of California, Utah, and Oregon. Far more of the region’s water is underground. That has historically made it difficult to track the impact of droughts on the overall water content of the Great Basin. A new look at 20 years of data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) series of satellites shows that the decline in groundwater in the Great Basin far exceeds stark surface water losses. Over about the past two decades, the underground water supply in the basin has fallen by 16.5 cubic miles (68.7 cubic kilometers). That’s roughly two-thirds as much water as the entire state of California uses in a year and about six times the total volume of water that was left in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, at the end of 2023. While new maps show a seasonal rise in water each spring due to melting snow from higher elevations, University of Maryland earth scientist Dorothy Hall said occasional snowy winters are unlikely to stop the dramatic water level decline that’s been underway in the U.S. Southwest. The finding came about as Hall and colleagues studied the contribution of annual snowmelt to Great Basin water levels. “In years like the 2022-23 winter, I expected that the record amount of snowfall would really help to replenish the groundwater supply,” Hall said. “But overall, the decline continued.” The research was published in March 2024 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. “A major reason for the decline is the upstream water diversion for agriculture and households,” Hall said. Populations in the states that rely on Great Basin water supplies have grown by 6% to 18% since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “As the population increases, so does water use.” Runoff, increased evaporation, and water needs of plants suffering hot, dry conditions in the region are amplifying the problem. “With the ongoing threat of drought,” Hall said, “farmers downstream often can’t get enough water.” Gravity measurements from the GRACE series of satellites show that the decline in water levels in the Great Basin region from April 2002 to September 2023 has most severely affected portions of southern California (indicated in red).D.K. Hall et al./Geophysical Research Letters 2024 While measurements of the water table in the Great Basin — including the depths required to connect wells to depleted aquifers — have hinted at declining groundwater, data from the ****** ******* DLR-NASA GRACE missions provide a clearer picture of the total loss of water supply in the region. The original GRACE satellites, which flew from March 2002 to October 2017, and the successor GRACE–Follow On (GRACE–FO) satellites, which launched in May 2018 and are still active, track changes in Earth’s gravity due primarily to shifting water mass. GRACE-based maps of fluctuating water levels have improved recently as the team has learned to parse more and finer details from the dataset. “Improved spatial resolution helped in this study to distinguish the location of the mass trends in the Western U.S. roughly ten times better than prior analyses,” said Bryant Loomis, who leads GRACE data analysis at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The diminishing water supplies of the U.S. Southwest could have consequences for both humans and wildlife, Hall said. In addition to affecting municipal water supplies and limiting agricultural irrigation, “It exposes the lake beds, which often harbor toxic minerals from agricultural runoff, waste, and anything else that ends up in the lakes.” In Utah, a century of industrial chemicals accumulated in the Great Salt Lake, along with airborne pollutants from present-day mining and oil refinement, have settled in the water. The result is a hazardous muck that is uncovered and dried as the lake shrinks. Dust blown from dry lake beds, in turn, exacerbates air pollution in the region. Meanwhile, shrinking lakes are putting a strain on bird populations that rely on the lakes as stopovers during migration. According to the new findings, Hall said, “The ultimate solution will have to include wiser water management.” By James R. Riordon NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Facebook logo @NASAEarth @NASAEarth Instagram logo @NASAEarth Share Details Last Updated Jun 17, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactJames R. Riordonjames.r*****@*****.tldLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsEarth ScienceClimate ScienceEarthGRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment)GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on)Science & Research Explore More 5 min read US, Germany Partnering on Mission to Track Earth’s Water Movement Article 3 months ago 5 min read Warming Makes Droughts, Extreme Wet Events More Frequent, Intense Scientists have predicted that droughts, floods will become more frequent and severe as our planet… Article 1 year ago 9 min read Drought Makes its Home on the Range Article 3 years ago View the full article

4 Min Read Slow Your Student’s ‘Summer Slide’ and Beat Boredom With NASA STEM Creating and testing soda-straw rockets is a fun way for younger students to avoid the “summer slide” and stay engaged in STEM during summer vacation. Credits: NASA The school year has come to an end, and those long summer days are stretching ahead like an open runway. Parents and educators often worry about the “summer slide,” the concept that students may lose academic ground while out of school. But summer doesn’t mean students’ imaginations have to stay grounded! Are you hoping to slow the summer slide or simply to beat back boredom with some fun options that will also keep young minds active? NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement has pulled together this collection of hands-on activities and interesting resources to set students up for a stellar summer vacation. Read on for ways to keep students entertained and engaged, from learning about NASA’s exciting missions, to exploring the world, to making some out-of-this-world art and more. Take NASA With You on Summer Vacation Whether you’re whiling away the hours on a quiet summer day or setting out on a travel adventure, NASA offers fun resources for young explorers to learn while passing the time. Prepare for air travel with the Four Forces of Flight, a set of four activities explaining the forces that make airplanes work, and NASA’s Junior Pilot Program, in which Orville the flying squirrel teaches youngsters about sustainable aviation that’s making airplanes safer and faster. Students can also learn about NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft, which will fly faster than the speed of sound while reducing the sound of sonic booms to mere “sonic thumps,” and the whole family can sign up as virtual passengers on NASA’s upcoming flights through the NASA Flight Log. Traveling to somewhere new? Astronauts living and working in low Earth orbit take many photographs of Earth as it rotates. Explore the world using the Explore Astronaut Photography interactive map, or test geography knowledge through the “Where in the World” Expedition I and Expedition II interactive quizzes. Of course, some kids prefer to kick back with a good book while on the couch, at the beach, in the *********, or on a plane – and NASA is ready with reading material! Kids aged 3 to 8 can learn about the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will return humans to the Moon with the “Hooray for SLS” children’s book and related activities. Students of all ages are invited to take their imaginations on a lunar adventure with fictional astronaut Callie Rodriguez through the First Woman graphic novel series. Blast Boredom With STEM Crafts and Creativity Making, baking, coloring, or drawing – there are plenty of ways to keep kids’ artistic abilities engaged while learning. Students can download and create their own Artemis illustrations through Learn How to Draw Artemis, featuring the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, and younger kids can learn the ABCs of human spaceflight with the Commercial Crew A to Z Activity and Coloring Booklet. Learn about the search for life in the universe while getting creative and colorful with Astrobiology Coloring and Drawing Pages. If crafts are more appealing, create and launch a soda-straw rocket and use printable templates to build a model of the Orion spacecraft or the Parker Solar Probe. Kids can even create a sundial and use the Sun to tell time on a sunny day. Finally, summer isn’t complete without a sweet treat, so bake some sunspot cookies. Real sunspots are not made of chocolate, but in this recipe, they are! Hungry for More? Don’t let the summer doldrums get you down. NASA STEM offers an entire universe of activities, resources, and opportunities for STEM fans at a variety of grade levels. Check out the NASA STEM Search and discover more NASA STEM categories below. Explore the NASA STEM Search Now Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA For Students Grades K-4 For Students Grades 5-8 For Students Grades 9-12 Learning Resources View the full article

6 Min Read Investigating the Origins of the Crab Nebula With NASA’s Webb This image by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows different structural details of the Crab Nebula. New data revises our view of this unusual supernova **********. A team of scientists used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. With the telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), the team gathered data that is helping to clarify the Crab Nebula’s history. The Crab Nebula is the result of a core-collapse supernova from the ****** of a massive star. The supernova ********** itself was seen on Earth in 1054 CE and was bright enough to view during the daytime. The much fainter remnant observed today is an expanding shell of gas and dust, and outflowing wind powered by a pulsar, a rapidly spinning and highly magnetized neutron star. The Crab Nebula is also highly unusual. Its atypical composition and very low ********** energy previously have been explained by an electron-capture supernova — a rare type of ********** that arises from a star with a less-evolved core made of oxygen, neon, and magnesium, rather than a more typical iron core. “Now the Webb data widen the possible interpretations,” said Tea Temim, lead author of the study at Princeton University in New Jersey. “The composition of the gas no longer requires an electron-capture **********, but could also be explained by a weak iron core-collapse supernova.” Image A: Crab Nebula (NIRCam and MIRI) This image by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows different structural details of the Crab Nebula. The supernova remnant is comprised of several different components, including doubly ionized sulfur (represented in green), warm dust (magenta), and synchrotron emission (blue). Yellow-white mottled filaments within the Crab’s interior represent areas where dust and doubly ionized sulfur coincide. The observations were taken as part of General Observer program 1714. Studying the Present to Understand the Past Past research efforts have calculated the total kinetic energy of the ********** based on the quantity and velocities of the present-day ejecta. Astronomers deduced that the nature of the ********** was one of relatively low energy (less than one-tenth that of a normal supernova), and the progenitor star’s mass was in the range of eight to 10 solar masses — teetering on the thin line between stars that experience a violent supernova ****** and those that do not. However, inconsistencies exist between the electron-capture supernova theory and observations of the Crab, particularly the observed rapid motion of the pulsar. In recent years, astronomers have also improved their understanding of iron core-collapse supernovae and now think that this type can also produce low-energy explosions, providing that the stellar mass is adequately low. Webb Measurements Reconcile Historic Results To lower the level of uncertainty surrounding the Crab’s progenitor star and nature of the **********, the team led by Temim used Webb’s spectroscopic capabilities to hone in on two areas located within the Crab’s inner filaments. Theories predict that because of the different chemical composition of the core in an electron-capture supernova, the nickel to iron (Ni/Fe) abundance ratio should be much higher than the ratio measured in our Sun (which contains these elements from previous generations of stars). Studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s measured the Ni/Fe ratio within the Crab using optical and near-infrared data and noted a high Ni/Fe abundance ratio that seemed to favor the electron-capture supernova scenario. The Webb telescope, with its sensitive infrared capabilities, is now advancing Crab Nebula research. The team used MIRI’s spectroscopic abilities to measure the nickel and iron emission lines, resulting in a more reliable estimate of the Ni/Fe abundance ratio. They found that the ratio was still elevated compared to the Sun, but only modestly and much lower in comparison to prior estimates. The revised values are consistent with electron-capture, but do not rule out an iron core-collapse ********** from a similarly low-mass star. (Higher-energy explosions from higher-mass stars are expected to produce ratios closer to solar abundances.) Further observational and theoretical work will be needed to distinguish between these two possibilities. “At present, the spectral data from Webb covers two small regions of the Crab, so it’s important to study much more of the remnant and identify any spatial variations,” said Martin Laming of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington and a co-author of the paper. “It would be interesting to see if we could identify emission lines from other elements, like cobalt or germanium.” Video: Crab Nebula Deconstructed To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This video shows the different major components that compose the Crab Nebula as observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Despite decades of study, this supernova remnant continues to puzzle astronomers as they seek to understand what kind of progenitor star and ********** produced this dynamic environment. Image- NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Tea Temim (Princeton University) Video- Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Mapping the Crab’s Current State Besides pulling spectral data from two small regions of the Crab Nebula’s interior to measure the abundance ratio, the telescope also observed the remnant’s broader environment to understand details of the synchrotron emission and the dust distribution. The images and data collected by MIRI enabled the team to isolate the dust emission within the Crab and map it in high resolution for the first time. By mapping the warm dust emission with Webb, and even combining it with the Herschel Space Observatory’s data on cooler dust grains, the team created a well-rounded picture of the dust distribution: The outermost filaments contain relatively warmer dust, while cooler grains are prevalent near the center. “Where dust is seen in the Crab is interesting because it differs from other supernova remnants, like Cassiopeia A and Supernova 1987A,” said Nathan Smith of the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona and a co-author of the paper. “In those objects, the dust is in the very center. In the Crab, the dust is found in the dense filaments of the outer shell. The Crab Nebula lives up to a tradition in astronomy: The nearest, brightest, and best-studied objects tend to be bizarre.” These findings have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The observations were taken as part of General Observer program 1714. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (********* Space Agency) and CSA (********* Space Agency). Downloads Right click any image to save it or open a larger version in a new tab/window via the browser’s popup menu. View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute. These findings have been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Media Contacts Laura Betz – laura.e*****@*****.tld, Rob Gutro – *****@*****.tld NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Abigail Major – *****@*****.tld / Christine Pulliam – *****@*****.tld Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md. Related Information Infographic: Massive Stars: Engines of Creation Articles: Explore Other Webb Supernova Articles 3D visualization video : “Crab Nebula: The Multiwavelength Structure of a Pulsar Wind Nebula” Sonification: Multiwavelength image of the Crab Nebula Explore More: Crab Nebula resources from NASA’s Universe of Learning More Webb News More Webb Images Webb Mission Page Related For Kids What is a supernova? Interactive: Explore the Crab Nebula in multiple wavelengths Activity: Create a stellar life cycle bookmark and bracelet Activity: Flipbook resource for stellar evolution What is the Webb Telescope? SpacePlace for Kids En Español Qué es una supernova? Ciencia de la NASA NASA en español Space Place para niños Keep Exploring Related Topics James Webb Space Telescope Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the… Galaxies Stars Universe Share Details Last Updated Jun 17, 2024 Editor Stephen Sabia Contact Laura Betz laura.e*****@*****.tld Related Terms Astrophysics Crab Nebula Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Nebulae Neutron Stars Pulsars Science & Research Stars Supernovae The Universe View the full article