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The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on the passing of Apollo astronaut Maj. Gen. (ret.) William “Bill” Anders, who passed away June 7, in San Juan Islands, Washington state, at the age of 90. “In 1968, as a member of the Apollo 8 crew, as one of the first three people to travel beyond the reach of our Earth and orbit the Moon, Bill Anders gave to humanity among the deepest of gifts an explorer and an astronaut can give. Along with the Apollo 8 crew, Bill was the first to show us, through looking back at the Earth from the threshold of the Moon, that stunning image – the first of its kind – of the Earth suspended in space, illuminated in light and hidden in darkness: the Earthrise. “As Bill put it so well after the conclusion of the Apollo 8 mission, ‘We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.’ “That is what Bill embodied – the notion that we go to space to learn the secrets of the universe yet in the process learn about something else: ourselves. He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. “The voyage Bill took in 1968 was only one of the many remarkable chapters in Bill’s life and service to humanity. In his 26 years of service to our country, Bill was many things – U.S. Air Force officer, astronaut, engineer, ambassador, advisor, and much more. “Bill began his career as an Air Force pilot and, in 1964, was selected to join NASA’s astronaut corps, serving as backup pilot for the Gemini XI and Apollo 11 flights, and lunar module pilot for Apollo 8. “He not only saw new things but inspired generation upon generation to see new possibilities and new dreams – to voyage on Earth, in space, and in the skies. When America returns astronauts to the Moon under the Artemis campaign, and ultimately ventures onward to Mars, we will carry the memory and legacy of Bill with us. “At every step of Bill’s life was the iron will of a pioneer, the grand passion of a visionary, the cool skill of a pilot, and the heart of an adventurer who explored on behalf of all of us. His impact will live on through the generations. All of NASA, and all of those who look up into the twinkling heavens and see grand new possibilities of dazzling new dreams, will miss a great hero who has passed on: Bill Anders.” For more information about Anders’ NASA career, and his agency biography, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- 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 4209-4211: Just Out of Reach NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on June 7, 2024, Sol 4207 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 04:20:07 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Friday, June 7, 2024 Curiosity is going to have a busy 3-sol weekend. We have one more sol of intense contact science activities at this really beautiful and fascinating location before moving on. What makes this place so special? We are seeing a lot of variety in the rocks in terms of their colors and textures. The MAHLI image is an up-close view of the unusual coloration we’re seeing, which our scientists are busy investigating. In particular, the Whitebark Pass block just in front of us, which we have been investigating for several days, is highly complex. We are evaluating it as a potential drill target, but the spots we might drill are just a little too far away from our current location. Today I am the Tactical Uplink Lead for our planning, and planning today was almost as complex as our workspace! On the first sol of the plan, Curiosity begins with a lot of imaging. We begin with the first of a series of change detection images on two sand targets (“Ten Lakes” and “Walker Lake”) so that we can characterize the current wind conditions. Then, ChemCam is doing a LIBS mosaic on Rodgers Pass, which is a target on Whitebark Pass. ChemCam also takes a passive mosaic on “Devils Postpile,” which is a another light-toned rock that we can compare to the similar-looking white rocks right in front of us, and a mosaic on the bright white stone field that is about 40m northwest of us. Mastcam takes large mosaics on Recess Peak, Devils Postpile, Whitebark Pass, and the white stones, before doing another round of the change detection images. After a nap, Curiosity wakes up to do a mid-afternoon set of change detection images before going back to sleep. After the nap, Curiosity wakes up and does a set of late-afternoon change detection images before starting our contact science. This workspace is highly complex, making it challenging to get to all of the interesting science targets, but the Rover Planners managed to get it all into the plan. First, the DRT is used to brush the Grass Lakes target before we take a suite of MAHLI images on it. Next is a suite of images on the “Snow Lakes” target, which is another white rock in our workspace. On Snow Lakes we are investigating three different spots at 5cm above the rock to look at variation within it. Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, the rover will wake up to move the APXS to cover all of the contact science targets, Grass Lakes and the 3 spots on Snow Lakes. Before handing over to the next sol’s plan, we do two more early morning change detection observations. On the second sol of the plan, we do additional imaging. ChemCam takes a LIBS mosaic of Rodgers Pass and a passive mosaic of “Gem Lakes,” another target on the Whitebark Pass block. After some Navcam atmospheric observations, a dust ****** survey and deck monitoring, Mastcam follows up with an image of Rodgers Pass and another set of change detection images. After the imaging is complete, we do a short forward drive to get more of the Whitebark Pass block into our workspace for additional contact science and evaluation as a potential drilling target. After the drive we will unstow the arm to get a better view of the new workspace as well as to save time in our next plan. After a bit of a nap, there is a MARDI image and Curiosity will go back to sleep. On the last sol of the plan, Curiosity uses AEGIS to autonomously observe targets on Whitebark Pass after the drive. There are also some additional atmospheric images with Navcam, including a dust ****** survey and suprahorizon movie. Just before handing over to Monday’s plan is a set of morning atmospheric observations, including a Mastcam solar tau, and Navcam zenith and suprahorizon movies. Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Share Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 Related Terms Blogs Explore More 2 min read Sols 4207-4208: A Taste of Rocky Road Article 1 day ago 2 min read Carving Into Carbonates at Old Faithful Geyser Article 2 days ago 3 min read Sols 4205-4206: Curiosity Would Like One of Each, Please! Article 2 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

Swarming for Success: Starling Completes Primary Mission by Tara Friesen After ten months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm successfully demonstrated its primary mission’s key objectives, representing significant achievements in the capability of swarm configurations. Swarms of satellites may one day be used in deep space exploration. An autonomous network of spacecraft could self-navigate, manage scientific experiments, and ******** maneuvers to respond to environmental changes without the burden of significant communications delays between the swarm and Earth. The four CubeSate spacecraft that make up the Starling swarm have demonstrated success in autonomous operations, completing all key mission objectives. “The success of Starling’s initial mission represents a landmark achievement in the development of autonomous networks of small spacecraft,” said Roger Hunter, program manager for NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “The team has been very successful in achieving our objectives and adapting in the face of challenges.” Sharing the Work The Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA) experiment, flown onboard Starling, demonstrated the spacecraft swarm’s ability to optimize data collection across the swarm. The CubeSats analyzed Earth’s ionosphere by identifying interesting phenomena and reaching a consensus between each satellite on an approach for analysis. By sharing observational work across a swarm, each spacecraft can “share the load” and observe different data or work together to provide deeper analysis, reducing human workload, and keeping the spacecraft working without the need for new commands sent from the ground. The experiment’s success means Starling is the first swarm to autonomously distribute information and operations data between spacecraft to generate plans to work more efficiently, and the first demonstration of a fully distributed onboard reasoning system capable of reacting quickly to changes in scientific observations. Communicating Across the Swarm A swarm of spacecraft needs a network to communicate between each other. The Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) experiment automatically established a network in space, allowing the swarm to relay commands and transfer data between one another and the ground, as well as share information about other experiments cooperatively. The team successfully completed all the MANET experiment objectives, including demonstrating routing commands and data to one of the spacecraft having trouble with space to ground communications, a valuable benefit of a cooperative spacecraft swarm. “The success of MANET demonstrates the robustness of a swarm,” said Howard Cannon, Starling project manager at NASA Ames. “For example, when the radio went down on one swarm spacecraft, we ‘side-loaded’ the spacecraft from another direction, sending commands, software updates, and other vital information to the spacecraft from another swarm member.” Autonomous Swarm Navigation Navigating and operating in relation to one another and the planet is an important part of forming a swarm of spacecraft. Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment, or StarFOX, uses star trackers to recognize a fellow swarm member, other satellite, or space debris from the background field of stars, then estimate each spacecraft’s position and velocity. The experiment is the first-ever published demonstration of this type of swarm navigation, including the ability to track multiple members of a swarm simultaneously and the ability to share observations between the spacecraft, improving accuracy when determining each swarm member’s orbit. Near the end of mission operations, the swarm was maneuvered into a passive safety ellipse, and in this formation, the StarFOX team was able to achieve a groundbreaking milestone, demonstrating the ability to autonomously estimate the swarm’s orbits using only inter-satellite measurements from the spacecraft star trackers. Managing Swarm Maneuvers The ability to plan and ******** maneuvers with minimal human intervention is an important part of developing larger satellite swarms. Managing the trajectories and maneuvers of hundreds or thousands of spacecraft autonomously saves time and reduces complexity. The Reconfiguration and Orbit Maintenance Experiments Onboard (ROMEO) system tests onboard maneuver planning and ********** by estimating the spacecraft’s orbit and planning a maneuver to a new desired orbit. The experiment team has successfully demonstrated the system’s ability to determine and plan a change in orbit and is working to refine the system to reduce propellant use and demonstrate executing the maneuvers. The team will continue to adapt and develop the system throughout Starling’s mission extension. Swarming Together Now that Starling’s primary mission objectives are complete, the team will embark on a mission extension known as Starling 1.5, testing space traffic coordination in partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which also has autonomous maneuvering capabilities. The project will explore how constellations operated by different users can share information through a ground hub to avoid potential collisions. “Starling’s partnership with SpaceX is the next step in operating large networks of spacecraft and understanding how two autonomously maneuvering systems can safely operate in proximity to each other. As the number of operational spacecraft increases each year, we must learn how to manage orbital traffic,” said Hunter. NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology program, based at Ames and within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), funds and manages the Starling mission. Blue Canyon Technologies designed and manufactured the spacecraft buses and is providing mission operations support. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. provided launch and integration services. Partners supporting Starling’s payload experiments have included Stanford University’s Space Rendezvous Lab in Stanford, California, York Space Systems (formerly Emergent Space Technologies) of Denver, Colorado, CesiumAstro of Austin, Texas, L3Harris Technologies, Inc., of Melbourne, Florida. Funding support for the DSA experiment was provided by NASA’s Game Changing Development program within STMD. Partners supporting Starling’s mission extension include SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, NASA’s Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) program, and the Department of Commerce. SpaceX manages the Starlink satellite constellation and the Collision Avoidance ground system. 3D-MAT – A thermal protection material for the Artemis Generation by Frank Tavares The 3-Dimensional Multifunctional Ablative Thermal Protection System (3D-MAT) is a thermal protection material developed as a critical component of Orion, NASA’s newest spacecraft built for human deep space missions. It is able to maintain a high level of strength while enduring extreme temperatures during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere at the end of Artemis missions to the Moon. 3D-MAT has become an essential piece of technology for NASA’s Artemis campaign that will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon and prepare for human expeditions to Mars, for the benefit of all. On the 19th day of the Artemis I mission, the Moon grows larger in frame as Orion prepares for the return powered flyby on Dec. 5, when it will pass approximately 79 miles above the lunar surface. This image includes both the Orion crew module and service module, connected by the compression pad that utilizes the 3D-MAT material. The 3D-MAT project emerged from a technical problem in early designs of the Orion spacecraft. The compression pad—the connective interface between the crew module, where astronauts reside, and the service module carrying power, propulsion, supplies, and more—was exhibiting issues during Orion’s first test flight, Exploration Flight Test-1, in 2014. NASA engineers realized they needed to find a new material for the compression pad that could hold these different components of Orion together while withstanding the extremely high temperatures of atmospheric re-entry. Using a 3D weave for NASA heat shield materials had been explored, but after the need for a new material for the compression pad was discovered, development quickly escalated. This led to the evolution of 3D-MAT, a material woven with quartz yarn and cyanate ester resin in a unique three-dimensional design. The quartz yarn used is like a more advanced version of the fiberglass insulation you might have in your attic, and the resin is essentially a high-tech glue. These off-the-shelf aerospace materials were chosen for their ability to maintain their strength and keep heat out at extremely high temperatures. 3D-MAT is woven together with a specialized loom, which packs the yarns tightly together, and then injected with resin using a unique pressurized process. The result is a high-performance material that is extremely effective at maintaining strength when it’s hot, while also insulating the heat from the spacecraft it is protecting. The 3D-MAT thermal protection material.NASA Within three years, 3D-MAT went from an early-stage concept to a well-developed material and has now been integrated onto NASA’s flagship Artemis campaign. The use of 3D-MAT in the Orion spacecraft’s compression pad during the successful Artemis I mission demonstrated the material’s essential role for NASA’s human spaceflight efforts. This development was made possible within such a short span of time because of the team’s collaboration with small businesses including Bally Ribbon Mills, which developed the weaving process, and San Diego Composites, which co-developed the resin infusion procedure with NASA. The team behind its development won the NASA Invention of the Year Award, a prestigious honor recognizing how essential 3D-MAT was for the successful Artemis flight and how significant it is for NASA’s future Artemis missions. The inventor team recognized includes Jay Feldman and Ethiraj Venkatapathy from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Curt Wilkinson of Bally Ribbon Mills, and Ken Mercer of Dynovas. 3D-MAT has applications beyond NASA as well. Material processing capabilities enabled by 3D-MAT have led to other products such as structural parts for Formula One racecars and rocket motor casings. Several potential uses of 3D-MAT in commercial aerospace vehicles and defense are being evaluated based on its properties and performance. Milestones Winner of NASA Invention of the Year Award in 2023 Flown on Artemis I in 2022 Being assessed for use by multiple Department of Defense and commercial aerospace entities Partners The 3D-MAT project is led out of NASA Ames with the support of various partners, including Bally Ribbon Mills, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Viginia, with the support of the Game Changing Development Program through NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. U.S. President Joe Biden Arrives Aboard Air Force One President Biden disembarks Air Force One at Moffett Federal Airfield before departing for a series of events in the region on May 9.NASA photo by Dominic Hart 2023 Presidential Rank & NASA Honor Awards Ceremony Held The annual Presidential Rank & NASA Honor Awards Ceremony was held at Ames, and shown virtually, on May 22 in the Ames Auditorium, in N201. Seventy-three employees were selected for individual Presidential and NASA Honor awards and 27 groups were selected for NASA Group Achievement Awards. Congratulations to all the recipients. Please see below for the list of awardees. 2023 Presidential Rank and NASA Honor Award Recipients   Presidential Rank of Meritorious Senior Executive Michael Hesse   Distinguished Service Medal Bhavya Lal (A-Suite Nomination) Thomas R. Norman Huy K. Tran 2023 Distinguished Service Medal presented to Huy Tran, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Medal Dora M. Herrera Parag A. Vaishampayan 2023 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Medal presented to Dora Herrera, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres Early Career Achievement Medal Natasha E. Batalha Mirko E. Blaustein-Jurcan Athena Chan Kathryn M. Chapman Chad J. Cleary Christine E. Gregg Supreet Kaur James R. Koch Elizabeth L. Lash Terrence D. Lewis Garrett G. Sadler Meghan C. Saephan Jordan A. Sakakeeny Lauren M. Sanders Amanda M. Saravia-Butler Logan Torres Lauren E. Wibe Shannah N. Withrow Emina Zanacic 2023 Early Career Achievement Medal presented to Emina Zanacic, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres Exceptional Achievement Medal Lauren J. Abbott Parul Agrawal Steven D. Beard Janet E. Beegle Jose V. Benavides Divya Bhadoria Sergio A. Briceno Holly L. Brosnahan Karen T. Cate Fay C. Chinn William J. Coupe Frances M. Donovan (Langley Research Center Nomination) Diana M. Gentry Lynda L. Haines Pallavi Hegde Shu-Chun Y. Lin Carlos Malpica Jeffrey W. McCandless Joshua D. Monk Mariano M. Perez Nathan J. Piontak (OPS Nomination) Vidal Salazar David W. Schwenke Eric C. Stern 2023 Exceptional Achievement Medal presented to David W. Schwenke, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres   Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal  Joseph L. Rios Mark M. Weislogel Joseph D. Williams   Exceptional Public Achievement Medal Danielle K. Lopez Wade M. Spurlock Sasha V. Weston   Exceptional Public Service Medal John J. Freitas (OCOMM Nomination) Michael J. Hirschberg   2023 Exceptional Public Service Medal presented to John J. Freitas, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal Noah G. Randolph-Flagg Ju-Mee Ryoo   2023 Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal presented to Ju-Mee Ryoo, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres Exceptional Service Medal Soheila Dianati Robert A. Duffy Shawn A. Engelland Thomas P. Greene Paul W. Lam Bernadette Luna Andres Martinez Ramsey K. Melugin Owen Nishioka Kathryn B. Packard Andrzej Pohorille (Posthumously) Stevan Spremo Mark S. Washington 2023 Exceptional Service Medal presented to Andres Martinez, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres   Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal Ruslan Belikov Norbert P. Gillem Emre Sozer   Outstanding Leadership Medal Michael D. Barnhardt William N. Chan Marilyn Vasques   Silver Achievement Medal Christine L. Munroe (MSEO – OSBP Nomination) Juan L. Torres-Pérez (Langley Research Center Nomination) 2023 Silver Achievement Medal presented to Christine L. Munroe, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.NASA photo by Brandon Torres   Group Achievement Award ARCTIC 3 Simulation Team Artemis I Char Loss Anomaly Investigation Team CapiSorb Visible System Team Center Engagement Strategy Convective Processes Experiment-AW and -CV Design for Maintainability DIP Planning and Field Test Team Executive Wildfire Roundtable and Showcase Flight IACUC Long Static Pipe Manufacturing Team Moon to Mars SE&I Verification Compliance Tool N225 Arc Flash Mishap Investigation Team NASA Aeronautics Sample Recovery Helicopter Team NASA Ames SLS CFD Team Next Generation Life Sciences Data Archive Team OSHA VPP Recertification Team Planetary Aeolian Laboratory ROSES Proposal Team SOFIA Project Closeout Team Submesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) The ACCLIP Team The DCOTSS Team The IMPACTS Team The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) UAM eVTOL Vehicle Design and Analysis Team UAM Side-by-Side 2 Aeroperformance Test Team Western Diversity Time Series Data Collection Team Wide Field of View Ames Veterans Community Outreach Team Receives Federal Employee of the Year Award by Maria C. Lopez As part of the Ames Veterans Committee (AVC) employee resource group, Brad Ensign, and James Schwab, who are both Army veterans, work to support other veterans and our local Afghan and Ukrainian war ******** communities. The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban was especially heart wrenching for Afghan war veterans and created a feeling of discouragement. The war in Ukraine only increased the level of disheartenment for many veterans. Importantly, the Ames Veterans Committee provides a forum to help veterans heal, and just as importantly, help our local community deal with the influx of Afghan and Ukrainian war refugees. The Federal Employee of the Year Award was presented to (left to right) James Schwab, NASA Ames Veteran Committee (AVC); Brad Ensign, NASA AVC by Commander (CDR) Matthew Johns, MPH, Chair of the San Francisco Federal Executive Board and Regional Health Administrator, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Through the AVC Community Outreach Team, Brad Ensign coordinated to donate computers from the Ledios company, which is NASA’s Workplace & Collaboration Services to The ******* Family & Community Services – East Bay and The ******* Family Services of Silicon Valley. Leidos was awarded the Advanced Enterprise Global Information Technology Solutions (AEGIS) contract by NASA. In addition to AEGIS, Leidos provides enterprise IT services to NASA through the NASA End-User Services and Technologies (NEST) contract. Both contracts support NASA’s overall IT operation and mission. Once an end-user computer reaches the device’s end-of-life cycle per the NEST contract, the computers are repurposed for local charity use. The computers are verified to be in good working condition by the Leidos/NEST team. Brad Ensign periodically pings the Ames NEST Center Operations manager for available computer donations and the manager verifies that good working computers are available for donation. Brad then contacts various Afghan and Ukrainian war ******** assistance charities to determine their computer needs. Many of these local charities rely on donations and do not have an IT budget. Once a need is determined by local charities, Brad coordinates the number of computers available and a delivery date and time. James Schwab enthusiastically supports this effort and has provided incredible logistical support transporting the computers to the donation location. Notably in October 2023, Brad and James successfully delivered 25 laptop computers, five desktop computers, and 30 monitors to the ******* Family & Community Services – East Bay. The support for the ******* Family & Community Services continued and in December of 2023, Brad helped deliver groceries to Afghan war refugees. So far this year, Brad, James, the Ledios company, and the NASA Ames Veterans Committee have donated a total of 40 computers and 40 monitors. These computers are extremely helpful for Afghan and Ukrainian war refugees to write resumes, find jobs, communicate with loved ones left behind, assist with personal tasks, stay informed of world and local news, help their children with schoolwork, and for entertainment. Donated computers are a tremendous resource for local war refugees and this initiative helps NASA Ames Veterans ease feelings of distress by making a difference in their community. On May 9, 2024, Brad and James received a Federal Employee of the Year Award from the San Francisco Federal Executive Board (SFFEB) for Volunteer Excellence based on their leadership on creating opportunities for the Ames Veterans Committee to work together during a trying time for veterans while making an ongoing, positive impact in the local community. DC-8 Flying Laboratory Makes Farewell Flight Over Ames Prior to Retirement NASA Ames gets an up-close look at the NASA DC-8 Flying Laboratory’s final flyover at 11:17 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, May 15, prior to it’s retirement at Idaho State University in Pocatello, IdahoNASA photo by Brandon Torres After nearly 40 years of service to science, on May 15 the Ames community had a chance to bid a final farewell to the DC-8 Flying Laboratory as it made its way to retirement in Idaho. NASA Ames, in coordination with NASA Armstrong, had arranged for a low-pass flyover of Ames Research Center at approximately 11:10 a.m. PDT in honor of the staff, scientists, and engineers who enabled the DC-8 to make such a profound impact on Earth science around the globe. The History of Ames and the DC-8 The NASA DC-8 is a world-class flying laboratory that has played a crucial role in answering fundamental questions across nearly every scientific discipline exploring Earth’s interacting systems, and how they are changing. The versatile research aircraft was unprecedented for its ability to carry multiple instruments and thereby take simultaneous active, passive, and in-situ measurements, while also providing room for 42 investigators onboard and boasting an impressive range of more than 5,000 miles. Ames has been involved in the science operations of the DC-8 since its arrival at Moffett Field in 1987, including long after the aircraft moved to NASA Armstrong (then NASA Dryden) in the late 1990s. Scientists at Ames continued to lead air quality and climate investigations. The Earth Science Project Office (ESPO) managed complex DC-8 deployments all over the world. And the National Suborbital Research Center (NSRC) provided critical engineering for instrument integration and the upgrading of onboard IT systems and networks, providing global satellite communications to enable real-time science anywhere in the world. During its first scientific mission, the DC-8 helped to establish the primary cause of the ozone ***** over the southern Pacific. Other early missions focused on atmospheric science and developing new instruments for remote sensing. This work ultimately led to the upcoming NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, launching later this year, which will provide new insights into Earth’s processes. The DC-8 went on to provide calibration and validation for numerous satellite missions, including the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) series of missions and later for the Aura satellite. The DC-8 also provided critical measurements over both poles as part of Operation IceBridge. The DC-8 successfully completed its final mission in March of this year, flying atmospheric sampling instruments for the Airborne and Satellite Investigation of ****** Air Quality (ASIA-AQ) campaign. Over the last decade, the DC-8 has also served an important role in training the next generation of Earth scientists and engineers through the Student Airborne Research Program (SARP). As we bid farewell to this special aircraft, the DC-8 has cleared the runway for the next generation of flying laboratory: the B777. A study performed by the National Academies of Science and Medicine strongly endorsed the need for a NASA flying laboratory to replace the DC-8, resulting in the acquisition of the B777. The team at Ames is working together with NASA Langley and NASA HQ to ensure the B777 will continue to support the science community and exceed the capabilities of the DC-8 with longer range, endurance, and payload capacity: honoring and expanding its legacy for generations of scientists to come. Hangar 3 Historical Website is Now Live! The Historic Preservation Office at NASA Ames’ Hangar 3 historical web site is now live! Ames Research Center and Planetary Ventures, in consultation with the National Park Service, California State Historic Preservation Office, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation created a website and film that documents the history and features of Hangar 3, provides valuable information for future researchers, and celebrates its local and global impact. Hangar 3 at Moffett Field You also can find additional historical information at NASA Ames and Moffett Field here, including buildings and districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places, information about Hangar 1 and Hangar 3, historical resources associated with the Space Shuttle and NASA Ames, and much more! In Memoriam … Fred Martwick, Senior Engineer at Ames, Passes Away It is with great sadness we share with you the news that our good friend and colleague, Fred G. Martwick, passed away on April 29, 2024, after a brief illness. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Tuesday, June 11, at 1 p.m. at the Calvary *******, 16330 Los Gatos Blvd, Los Gatos, California 95032. The event is open to all who wish to attend. In addition, everyone is invited to a flag ceremony to honor Fred on Tuesday, June 25, at 10:30 a.m. PDT in front of the N-200 flagpole at NASA Ames. Fred Martwick hiking in the High Sierras. Graduating in 1985 with a BS in mechanical engineering from San Jose State, Fred began his career with IBM in south San Jose. After a few years, he came on-board at NASA Ames as a support service contractor in the Engineering Division. His abilities and personal work ethic were recognized, and he was quickly recruited for civil service (CS) conversion, first becoming an Army CS employee in the early 1990s, and later transitioning to NASA CS. In the 1990s, Fred supported and then led several successful space sciences projects. Concurrently, he served as one of the Ames representatives of the Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium organizing committee, consisting of representatives from the other NASA centers and Lockheed Martin. This group organized and sponsored the symposium on a set rotation within the NASA centers. In the late 1990s, after an offsite contractor ******* to meet NASA’s specifications and timeline, the successful partnership of Fred and Dave Ackard managed the onsite manufacture and assembly of the SOFIA Cavity Door. In the 2000s, Fred managed the planning, design, and prototype fabrication of a nano-satellite and deployment system in conjunction with Stanford. Fred then managed the challenging procurement and fabrication of an intricate powered wind tunnel model of the Orion Crew Escape System. The model and subsequent tests were key elements for the analysis test verification of the Escape System. In the 2010s, Fred had established an intricate manufacturing documentation control system, creating a contracting “war room” in the mezzanine above the N211 Fabrication Shop. From here, large amounts of space flight certified animal hardware were planned, contracted, tracked, assembled, and certified for flight to the International Space Station. Fred’s procurement and documentation control system greatly impressed visiting customers from NASA/JSC management. In 2014, Fred was awarded the coveted Silver Snoopy Award in recognition of his outstanding performance in space flight system development and manufacturing. By the 2020s, Fred had moved to the Chief Engineers Office in Code D supporting project oversight while keeping an eye on his upcoming retirement. Fred’s dedication to NASA had pushed his retirement out a few times but was well within sight with the purchase of a beautiful home near Spokane, Washington. He was very involved with the organization Assist International and enjoyed working with the project Caminul Felix in Romania. Additionally, he worked with the Calvary ******* ministry with junior high school kids. He was bus driver for the kids at the ministry, taking them to Hume Lake ********** Camp where he was the waterskiing boat driver for the kids as they waterskied behind the boat around the lake. Fred will be greatly missed by the many people who have worked with him over his 30 plus years of outstanding service. He will be remembered as a man of unwavering ******, a shrewd negotiator, an excellent project manager and systems engineer capable of diving into and clearly documenting the details while not losing sight of the big picture. His ability to “get things done” makes his passing a great loss for NASA. All of Fred’s many friends from his NASA family are welcome to attend the memorial service and flag ceremony. View the full article

The core stage is the backbone of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s Artemis II mission to send a crew of four astronauts around the Moon in 2025. Here, the core stage is currently behind scaffolding to allow work to continue at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The stage’s two massive propellant tanks hold a collective 733,000 gallons of liquid propellant to power the four RS-25 engines at its base. Following hardware acceptance reviews and final checkouts, the stage will be readied for delivery via the agency’s Pegasus barge to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for Artemis II launch preparations. (NASA/ Eric Bordelon) NASA will roll the fully assembled core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the first crewed Artemis mission out of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in mid-July. The 212-foot-tall stage will be loaded on the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video, hear remarks from agency and industry leadership, and speak to subject matter experts with NASA and its Artemis industry partners as crews move the rocket stage to the Pegasus barge. NASA will provide additional information on specific timing later, along with interview opportunities. This event is open to U.S. and international media. International media must apply by June 14. U.S. media must apply by July 3. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online. Interested media must contact Corinne Beckinger at *****@*****.tld and Craig Betbeze at *****@*****.tld. Registered media will receive a confirmation by email. The rocket stage with its four RS-25 engines will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission. Once at Kennedy, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will finish outfitting the stage and prepare it for stacking and launch. Artemis II is currently scheduled for launch in September 2025. Building, assembling, and transporting the core stage is a collaborative process for NASA, Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, and lead RS-25 engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company. NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of ******, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under the agency’s Artemis campaign. The SLS rocket is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. The SLS rocket is the only rocket designed to send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch. Learn more about NASA’s Artemis campaign: [Hidden Content] -end- Rachel Kraft NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 rachel.h*****@*****.tld Corinne Beckinger Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 *****@*****.tld View the full article

NASA has selected Amentum Services Inc. of Chantilly, Virginia, to provide program, science, engineering, operations, and project management support at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Fully Integrated Lifecycle Mission Support Services 2 contract is a single award, hybrid contract, consisting of cost-plus-fixed-fee core requirements and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task orders. With a maximum value of $256 million, the contract’s ******* of performance will begin Monday, June 17 with a 60-day phase-in *******, followed by a two-year base ******* and three one-year options. Southeastern Universities Research Association Inc. of Washington is a subcontractor under this award. Work under the contract will include biosciences flight development projects (including mission implementation, instrument development, and technology advancement efforts), collaborative science programs (e.g., astrobiology, virtual institutes), aeronautics research projects, and specialized technical and professional support for various NASA Ames offices. For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Abbey Donaldson NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Rachel Hoover Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif. 650-604-4789 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters View the full article

NASA A Florida redbelly turtle looks warily at the camera in this photo from Feb. 29, 2000. This image was captured on the grounds of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which shares a border with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge contains 92,000 acres that are a habitat for more than 330 species of birds, 31 mammals, 117 fishes, and 65 amphibians and reptiles – including suspicious turtles. Image Credit: NASA View the full article

NASA is moving forward with ten studies to examine more affordable and faster methods of bringing samples from Mars’ surface back to Earth as part of the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program. As part of this effort, NASA will award a firm-fixed-price contract for up to $1.5 million to conduct 90-day studies to seven industry proposers. Additionally, NASA centers, CalTech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory are producing studies. Once completed, NASA will assess all studies to consider alterations or enhancements to the Mars Sample Return architecture. “Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has undertaken, and it is critical that we carry it out more quickly, with less risk, and at a lower cost,” said Nelson. “I’m excited to see the vision that these companies, centers and partners present as we look for fresh, exciting, and innovative ideas to uncover great cosmic secrets from the Red Planet.” Over the last quarter century, NASA has engaged in a systematic effort to determine the early history of Mars and how it can help us understand the formation and evolution of habitable worlds, including Earth. As part of that effort, Mars Sample Return has been a long-term goal of international planetary exploration for the past two decades. NASA’s Perseverance rover has been collecting samples for later collection and return to Earth since it landed on Mars in 2021. The following companies and proposals were selected from among those that responded to an April 15 request for proposals: Lockheed Martinin Littleton, Colorado: “Lockheed Martin Rapid Mission Design Studies for Mars Sample Return” SpaceX in Hawthorne, California: “Enabling Mars Sample Return With Starship” Aerojet Rocketdyne in Huntsville, Alabama: “A High-Performance Liquid Mars Ascent Vehicle, Using Highly Reliable and Mature Propulsion Technologies, to Improve Program Affordability and Schedule” Blue Origin in Monrovia, California: “Leveraging Artemis for Mars Sample Return” Quantum Space, in Rockville, Maryland: “Quantum Anchor Leg Mars Sample Return Study” Northrop Grumman in Elkton, Maryland: “High TRL MAV Propulsion Trades and Concept Design for MSR Rapid Mission Design” Whittinghill Aerospace in Camarillo, California: “A Rapid Design Study for the MSR Single Stage Mars Ascent Vehicle” NASA’s Mars Sample Return is a strategic partnership with ESA (the ********* Space Agency). Returning scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world can revolutionize our understanding of Mars and would fulfill one of the highest priority solar system exploration goals as identified by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. For more information on Mars Sample Return, visit: [Hidden Content] -end- Dewayne Washington Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters View the full article

NASA astronauts Suni Williams (pictured left) and Butch Wilmore (pictured right) launched at 10:52 a.m. EDT June 5 as the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on the ******* Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Credits: NASA Following their safe arrival at the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will participate in a pair of Earth to space calls Monday, June 10, regarding their historic mission aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft: Known as NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, the duo will speak first at 1 p.m. EDT with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, Associate Administrator Jim Free, and Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche. Coverage of the call will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. At 2:40 p.m., the astronauts will participate in a Q&A moderated by Chirag Parikh, deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and executive secretary for the White House’s National Space Council. Coverage of the call will stream live on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website. Wilmore and Williams launched at 10:52 a.m. June 5, on a ******* Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. They docked to the orbiting laboratory at 1:34 p.m., June 6, and will remain for a week-long stay, testing Starliner and its subsystems as the next step in the spacecraft’s certification for rotational missions as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is delivering on its goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station from the ******* States through a partnership with ********* private industry. This partnership is opening access to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station to more people, science, and commercial opportunities. The space station ******** the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in space exploration, including future missions to the Moon under Artemis, and ultimately, to Mars. For more information about the mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew -end- ****** McKie / Josh Finch Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 ***********@*****.tld / *****@*****.tld Share Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 LocationNASA Headquarters Related TermsHumans in SpaceCommercial CrewCommercial SpaceInternational Space Station (ISS)ISS Research View the full article

NASA will roll the fully assembled core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the first crewed Artemis mission out of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in mid-July. The 212-foot-tall stage will be loaded on the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video, hear remarks from agency and industry leadership, and speak to subject matter experts with NASA and its Artemis industry partners as crews move the rocket stage to the Pegasus barge. The core stage is the backbone of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will help power NASA’s Artemis II mission to send a crew of four astronauts around the Moon in 2025. Here, the core stage is currently behind scaffolding to allow work to continue at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The stage’s two massive propellant tanks hold a collective 733,000 gallons of liquid propellant to power the four RS-25 engines at its base. Following hardware acceptance reviews and final checkouts, the stage will be readied for delivery via the agency’s Pegasus barge to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for Artemis II launch preparations. NASA will provide additional information on specific timing later, along with interview opportunities. This event is open to U.S. and international media. International media must apply by June 14. U.S. media must apply by July 3. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online. Interested media must contact Corinne Beckinger at *****@*****.tld and Craig Betbeze at *****@*****.tld. Registered media will receive a confirmation by email. The rocket stage with its four RS-25 engines will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission. Once at Kennedy, teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will finish outfitting the stage and prepare it for stacking and launch. Artemis II is currently scheduled for launch in September 2025. Building, assembling, and transporting the core stage is a collaborative process for NASA, Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, and lead RS-25 engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company. NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of ******, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under the agency’s Artemis campaign. The SLS rocket is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. The SLS rocket is the only rocket designed to send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch. Learn more about NASA’s Artemis campaign: News Media Contact Rachel Kraft NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 rachel.h*****@*****.tld Corinne Beckinger Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 *****@*****.tld View the full article

Timothy Lang (ST11) is a coauthor on an article titled, “Employing Optical Lightning Data to identify lightning flashes associated to Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes,” which was recently accepted for publication in the Bulletin of Atmospheric Science and Technology. Rich Blakeslee, formerly of the NASA MSFC Emeritus program, is also a coauthor on the study. The study – which was led by Christoph Köhn of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) – used data from the International Space Station Lightning Imaging Sensor (ISS LIS) and the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM; also on the ISS) to improve our understanding of what types of lightning flashes are associated with terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), which emit high-energy radiation from thunderstorms. The team developed an algorithm that accurately reduced the total population of LIS-observed lightning to a much smaller population of candidate TGF-related flashes by looking for unique characteristics within the flashes. ASIM, which can observe TGFs, was used to validate the algorithm. This study is important because instruments like ASIM only observe 300-400 TGFs per year, while LIS observed on average ~1 million lightning flashes per year. This difference of four orders of magnitude in frequency of occurrence means that data-reduction algorithms are necessary to facilitate studying the relationships between TGFs and lightning. In addition, a recent NASA field campaign demonstrated that TGF occurrence may be significantly higher than what can be measured from space, particularly within tropical thunderstorms. Thus, an algorithm that identifies possible characteristics TGF-related lightning may help us later in understanding differences between lightning associated with strong TGFs (observable from space) and lightning associated with weaker TGFs (not currently observable from space). Read the paper at: [Hidden Content]. Graphic showing the integration of the Lightning Imaging Sensor with the International Space Station.View the full article

Patrick Duran (SPoRT/ST11) participated in the annual Tropical Cyclone Operations and Research Forum (TCORF) at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, FL 3/5-6/24. TCORF brings together hurricane researchers, forecasters, and aircraft reconnaissance personnel from NOAA, the US Navy, and the US Air Force to discuss recent research results and plans for operational hurricane forecasting and aircraft reconnaissance during the upcoming hurricane season. The forum provided an opportunity to get initial stakeholder feedback from the hurricane aircraft reconnaissance community on real-time situational awareness products currently being developed by SPoRT. These products are designed to be used aboard an aircraft while it’s in the storm to make decisions on whether to modify the flight track and instrument deployments to accommodate a pre-planned research experiment called a “module.” Conversations at the forum also led to an enhanced collaboration with the NOAA Hurricane Research Division that will incorporate SPoRT into a module designed to perform cal/val for NASA’s TROPICS constellation. A new collaboration also was formed with NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere to better understand the Geostationary Lightning Mapper’s detection efficiency in the hurricane inner core. View the full article

Christopher Schultz (ST11) led a team consisting of Phillip Bitzer (UAH), Michael Antia (Jacobs), Jonathan Case (Ensco), and Christopher Hain (MSFC) to examine 26-years of lightning-initiated wildfires (LIW) to understand the types of lightning that were producing wildfire events within the ******* States. Twenty-six years of lightning data were paired with over 68,000 LIW reports to understand lightning flash characteristics responsible for ignition in between 1995 and 2020. Results indicate that 92% of LIW were started by negative cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flashes and 57% were single ******* flashes. Moreover, 62% of LIW reports did not have a positive CG within 10 km of the start location, contrary to the science literature’s suggestion that positive CG flashes are a dominant *****-starting mechanism. Nearly 1/3rd of wildfire events were holdovers, meaning one or more days elapsed between lightning occurrence and ***** report. However, fires that were reported less than a day after lightning occurrence statistically burned more acreage. Peak current was not found to be a statistically significant delineator between ***** starters and non-***** starters for -CGs but was for positive CGs. Results highlighted the need for reassessing the role of positive CG lightning and subsequently long continuing current in wildfire ignition started by lightning. One outcome of this study’s results is the development of real-time tools to identify ignition potential during lightning events to aid in ***** mitigation efforts. Furthermore, the findings of this study should lead to new science in defining the continuing current duration needed to ignite a ***** as a function of the underlying land surface. View the full article

Star Cluster Westerlund 1.X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/M. Guarcello et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare Westerlund 1 is the biggest and closest “super” star cluster to Earth. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, in combination with other NASA telescopes, is helping astronomers delve deeper into this galactic factory where stars are vigorously being produced. This is the first data to be publicly released from a project called the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey, or EWOCS, led by astronomers from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo. As part of EWOCS, Chandra observed Westerlund 1 for about 12 days in total. Currently, only a handful of stars form in our galaxy each year, but in the past the situation was different. The Milky Way used to produce many more stars, likely hitting its peak of churning out dozens or hundreds of stars per year about 10 billion years ago and then gradually declining ever since. Astronomers think that most of this star formation took place in massive clusters of stars, known as “super star clusters,” like Westerlund 1. These are young clusters of stars that contain more than 10,000 times the mass of the Sun. Westerlund 1 is between about 3 million and 5 million years old. This new image shows the new deep Chandra data along with previously released data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The X-rays detected by Chandra show young stars (mostly represented as white and pink) as well as diffuse heated gas throughout the cluster (******** pink, green, and blue, in order of increasing temperatures for the gas). Many of the stars picked up by Hubble appear as yellow and blue dots. Only a few super star clusters still exist in our galaxy, but they offer important clues about this earlier era when most of our galaxy’s stars formed. Westerlund 1 is the biggest of these remaining super star clusters in the Milky Way and contains a mass between 50,000 and 100,000 Suns. It is also the closest super star cluster to Earth at about 13,000 light-years. These qualities make Westerlund 1 an excellent target for studying the impact of a super star cluster’s environment on the formation process of stars and planets as well as the evolution of stars over a broad range of masses. This new deep Chandra dataset of Westerlund 1 has more than tripled the number of X-ray sources known in the cluster. Before the EWOCS project, Chandra had detected 1,721 sources in Westerlund 1. The EWOCS data found almost 6,000 X-ray sources, including fainter stars with lower masses than the Sun. This gives astronomers a new population to study. One revelation is that 1,075 stars detected by Chandra are squeezed into the middle of Westerlund 1 within four light-years of the cluster’s center. For a sense of how crowded this is, four light-years is about the distance between the Sun and the next closest star to Earth. The diffuse emission seen in the EWOCS data represents the first detection of a halo of hot gas surrounding the center of Westerlund 1, which astronomers think will be crucial in assessing the cluster’s formation and evolution, and giving a more precise estimate of its mass. A paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, led by Mario Guarcello from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo, discusses the survey and the first results. Follow-up papers will discuss more about the results, including detailed studies of the brightest X-ray sources. This future work will analyze other EWOCS observations, involving NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer). NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts. Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: [Hidden Content] Visual Description: This is an image of the Westerlund 1 star cluster and the surrounding region, as detected in X-ray and optical light. The ****** canvas of space is peppered with ******** dots of light of various sizes, mostly in shades of red, green, blue, and white. At the center of the image is a semi-transparent, red and yellow cloud of gas encircling a grouping of tightly packed gold stars. The shape and distribution of stars in the cluster call to mind effervescent soda bubbles dancing above the ice cubes of a recently poured beverage. News Media Contact Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998 Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 View the full article

Astronaut waves during a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station (Credits: NASA) NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct three spacewalks targeted for June. NASA will discuss the upcoming spacewalks during a news conference at 4 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 11.Live coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Participants in the news conference include: Dina Contella, deputy program manager, International Space Station Rebecca Wingfield, flight director, spacewalk 90 Nicole McElroy, flight director, spacewalk 91 Sandy Fletcher, spacewalk officer, spacewalk 90 Faruq Sabur, spacewalk officer, spacewalk 91 and 92 U.S. media interested in participating in person must contact the Johnson newsroom no later than 4 p.m. Monday, June 10, at: 281-483-5111 or *****@*****.tld. To ask questions, media must dial in no later than 15 minutes before the start of the news conference. Questions also may be submitted on social media using #AskNASA. For the first spacewalk, NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Matt Dominick 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. Dominick will serve as spacewalk crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. U.S. spacewalk 90 will be the fourth for Dyson and the first for Dominick. NASA will announce participating crew members for U.S. spacewalks 91 and 92 following the completion of the first and will provide additional coverage details. For the second spacewalk, astronauts will remove and replace the external high-definition camera located at camera port nine on the orbiting laboratory. This camera is one of several to provide external views of the space station. Additionally, crew members will complete a cable connection fit check for the alpha magnetic spectrometer, a particle physics experiment on the station’s exterior. If not completed during U.S. spacewalk 90, the astronauts will begin by collecting microorganism samples. For the third spacewalk, crew members will remove and replace a rate gyro assembly, which provides data on the orientation of the space station. Astronauts will then attach a support bracket, called a modification kit, in preparation for future installation of the orbiting laboratory’s next International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array on the 2A power channel on the port truss. Learn more about the space station, its research, and crew, 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 View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons What do you give to an ocean that has everything? This year, for National Ocean Month, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite— is gifting us a unique look at our home planet. The visualizations created with data from the satellite, which launched on Feb. 8, are already enhancing the ways that we view our seas and skies. The PACE satellite views our entire planet every day, returning data at a cadence that allows scientists to track and monitor the rapidly changing atmosphere and ocean, including cloud formation, aerosol movement, and differences in microscopic ocean life over time. The visualization starts with a view of swaths of Earth from PACE’s Ocean ****** Instrument. The Ocean ****** Instrument observes Earth in ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared light — over 200 wavelengths. With this level of detail, scientists can now, from space, regularly identify specific communities of phytoplankton — tiny organisms floating near the surface of the ocean that serve as the center of the marine food web. This is a major advance, as different types of phytoplankton play different roles in ocean ecosystems and health. PACE orbits Earth in this visualization, exposing a swath of true ****** imagery. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Zooming in, the visualization shows the ecosystems and surrounding atmosphere off the ******* States’ East Coast and The Bahamas on March 21. Like previous satellites, the Ocean ****** Instrument can detect chlorophyll in the ocean, which indicates the presence and abundance of phytoplankton. The Ocean ****** Instrument adds to this by allowing scientists to determine the types of phytoplankton present, such as the three different types of phytoplankton identified in the visualization. False ****** data visualization of phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Prochlorococcus), as observed by PACE’s Ocean ****** instrument (OCI).NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio The portion of the swirls in green indicate the presence of picoeukaryotes, organisms which are smaller than 0.3 micrometers in size — 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair. In light blue are prochlorococcus, the smallest known organism to turn sunlight into energy (photosynthesis); they account for a major fraction of all photosynthesis that occurs in the ocean. The portion of the bloom in bright pink indicates synechococcus, a phytoplankton group that can ****** the water light pink when many are present in a small area. False ****** data visualization of phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus), as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio These are just three of the thousands of types of phytoplankton, and just the start of what the Ocean ****** Instrument will be able to identify. The PACE satellite’s two polarimeters, Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter #2 (HARP2) and Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration one (SPEXone), provide a unique view of Earth’s atmosphere, helping scientists learn more about clouds and small particles called aerosols. The polarimeters measure light that reflects off of these particles. By learning more about the interactions between clouds and aerosols, these data will ultimately help make climate models more accurate. Additionally, aerosols can degrade air quality, so monitoring their properties and movement is important for human health. Aerosols, as observed by PACE’s HARP2 and SPEXone instruments.NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio In the visualization, the large swath of HARP2 data shows the concentration of aerosols in the air for that particular day. These data — a measure of the light scattering and absorbing properties of aerosols — help scientists not only locate the aerosols, but identify the type. Near the coast, the aerosols are most likely smoke from fires in the U.S. southeast. Adding detail to the visualization and the science, the thin swath of SPEXone data furthers the information by showing the aerosol particle size. Over the next year, PACE scientists aim to create the first global maps of phytoplankton communities and glean new insights into how fisheries and aquatic resources are responding to Earth’s changing climate. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft was specifically designed to study the invisible universe of Earth’s sea and sky from the vantage point of space. We’ve measured 4-6 colors of the rainbow for decades, which has enabled us to “see” phytoplankton from space through the lens of its primary photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll-a. PACE’s primary instrument is the first of its kind to measure all the colors of the rainbow, every day, everywhere. That means we can identify the type of phytoplankton behind the chlorophyll-a. Different types of phytoplankton have different effects on the food web, on water management, and on the climate, via their impact on the carbon cycle.NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio By Erica McNamee NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Share Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 EditorKate D. RamsayerContactErica McNamee*****@*****.tldLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related TermsEarthAerosolsGoddard Space Flight CenterOceansPACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Explore More 4 min read NASA’s PACE Data on Ocean, Atmosphere, Climate Now Available Article 2 months ago 5 min read Early Adopters of NASA’s PACE Data to Study Air Quality, Ocean Health From the atmosphere down to the surface of the ocean, data from NASA’s PACE (Plankton,… Article 2 months ago 6 min read NASA’s PACE To Investigate Oceans, Atmosphere in Changing Climate Earth’s oceans and atmosphere are changing as the planet warms. Some ocean waters become greener… Article 5 months ago View the full article

The National Weather Service in Huntsville hosted a visit by the NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration. ***** is the main office within the NWS that manages and plans research to operations projects for the NWS and the integration of technology across NWS field offices. The visit by ***** leadership and management started with discussions with NWS Huntsville and highlighted an afternoon session to learn more about SPoRT, R2O projects, and partnerships within the NWS. ***** values the efforts of SPoRT in transitioning NASA research to NWS offices and plans to continue collaborative discussions and knowledge sharing on R2O/O2R and SPoRT products that have been successfully integrated into NWS operations. View the full article

Dennis Gallagher (ST13) reports receiving on 3/1/24, one gram of Apollo 16 regolith of 1 mm and smaller dust regolith from the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Apollo Archive. The material request is motivated by the planned NASA Artemis missions to the Moon’s south polar region where the surface is generally expected to be like that found at the Apollo 16 landing site. Electrostatic charging driven by the solar wind and ultraviolet light from the Sun is known to be important for small particles of lunar regolith that must be understood for potentially dust coated struts of the Human Lander System (HLS) that will cycle between the surface and Gateway. Presently, the charging properties of individual dust grains are not adequately characterized for this purpose. The measurements to be obtained by the MSFC Dusty Plasma Laboratory using Apollo 16 dust are intended to fill this knowledge gap are being obtained in support of the Gateway Cis-Lunar Dust Transfer Modeling and Analysis Task and HLS at JSC. The surface of the Moon.View the full article

On 3/7/24, Astrophysical Journal published online “X-ray Polarimetry of the Dipping Accreting Neutron Star 4U 1624–49” by M. Lynne Saade (Astrophysics Branch) et al. This is the 51st discovery paper published by the IXPE Science Team. The first author, Lynnie Saade, is a new postdoc working on IXPE and this is her first IXPE paper, which was submitted only a few months after arriving at MSFC. Illustration of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry ExplorerView the full article

NASA’s Transform to Open Science (TOPS) initiative aims to transform agencies, organizations, and communities to an inclusive culture of open science. A set of TOPS Champions at selected NASA Centers have developed the open science curriculum that they will teach at Centers, conferences, science meetings, etc. A first TOPS meeting with all Center Champions was held at Kennedy Space Center 2/27-29/24. Plans for how to continue developing and teaching the Open Science curriculum were made during the meeting. A goal is set to teach the curriculum to 20,000 researchers. View the full article

Rahul Ramachandran (ST11) met with the World Food Program’s Head of Geospatial Support Unit. The focus was on his team’s work in Geospatial AI Foundation Models, specifically discussing the upcoming second version of the HLS Foundation Model. This new iteration promises an advanced architecture and extended training on global time sequences, offering unprecedented capabilities. The World Food Program’s Geospatial Support Unit expressed keen interest in leveraging this model to develop applications that could transform their operations. Ramachandran invited the World Food Program to join this open effort, highlighting the potential for these collaborations to revolutionize geospatial analytics and support global humanitarian efforts. View the full article

NASA’s Transform to Open Science (TOPS; [Hidden Content]) initiative aims to transform agencies, organizations, and communities to an inclusive culture of open science. TOPS’s first priority is to develop an open science curriculum to train scientists and researchers as part of our 5-year program. A set of TOPS Champions at selected NASA Centers have developed the open science curriculum that they will teach at Centers, conferences, science meetings, etc. Pontus Olofsson (ST11) is a TOPS Champion at MSFC; he taught the first module of the open science curriculum to all branches of MSFC on 2/21/24. This was the first instructor-led TOPS workshop at MSFC. View the full article

As part of his NASA SERVIR research project, Pontus Olofsson (ST11) co-authored a paper for publication in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. The paper, titled Applications of Remote Sensing for Land Use Planning Scenarios With Suitability Analysis, presents results from a suitability analysis model using time series of Landsat data for land use planning in West ******* in light of a growing population and management of natural resources. The research was carried out by SERVIR-funded research groups at NASA MSFC, University of Florida, and Boston University. The paper is available here: [Hidden Content]. Results from the land use suitability analyses for (a) agriculture, (b) forest, and (c) urban land uses.View the full article

From 2/12-16/24, representatives of SERVIR’s Science Coordination Office participated in an Inclusive Climate Action Workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Hosted by SERVIR’s Southeast Asia program, along with USAID, the ****** Disaster Preparedness Center, and the World Wildlife Fund, the event was organized as a space to exchange ideas on how Earth and climate information can be more actionable for and inclusive of Indigenous communities, women, youth, and other underrepresented communities. The event convened nearly 100 participants from across five Southeast ****** countries who provided insight on how SERVIR and its partners can better serve the region on issues like deforestation, air quality, and disaster risk reduction. View the full article

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge will conclude with a final competition, open to the public and media, this June in Huntsville, Alabama.NASA NASA will announce the winners of the final phase of its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge on Wednesday, June 12 at Alabama A&M University’s (AAMU) Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The challenge aims to develop new technologies that could support a sustained human presence on the Moon by the end of the decade. Media and the public are invited to watch the six finalists test their robots in live competitions. Opening remarks from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center leadership in Huntsville will begin at 8 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, June 11. Teams will compete from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day during the two-day event, with the winner announcement at 5 p.m. in a ceremony on June 12 at the Agribition Center. Media interested in covering the event should confirm their attendance with Jonathan Deal by 3 p.m. Monday, June 10, at jonathan.e*****@*****.tld. Each team will focus on mastering two components during the two-day event: excavation and transportation. Six identically sized concrete slabs, measuring about 300 cubic feet, will be placed inside the arena for the finalists’ robots to dig. The slabs will have qualities like the icy regolith found in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s South Pole. A gravity-offloading crane system will apply the counterweights on the excavating robots to simulate the one-sixth gravity experienced on the Moon. Each team will have one hour to dig as much material as possible or until they reach the payload capacity of their excavation ******. Up to three top-performing teams can test their solution inside one of NASA Marshall’s thermal vacuum chambers, which can simulate the temperature and vacuum conditions at the lunar South Pole. Outside the Agribition Center, challenge teams will take turns on a custom-built track outfitted with slopes, boulders, pebbles, rocks, and gravel to simulate the lunar surface. This volatile surface will stretch approximately 300 meters and include several twists and turns for more intermediate handling. Each team will get one hour on the track to deliver a payload and return to the starting point. Times, distances, and pitfalls will be recorded independently. After this event, the first-place winner will receive $1 million, and the second-place winner will receive $500,000. The awards ceremony will be livestreamed on Marshall YouTube and NASA Prize Facebook. Since 2020, competitors have worked to design, build, and test icy regolith excavation and transportation technologies for near-term lunar missions that address key operational elements and environmental constraints. The six finalists who succeeded in Phase 2: Level 2 of the challenge were announced in December 2023. 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. Located a few miles east of the AAMU campus, the Agribition (“agriculture” plus “exhibition”) Center is managed by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System with support from AAMU and its College of Agricultural, Life, and Natural Sciences. The Break the Ice Lunar Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge led by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, supported by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Centennial Challenges are part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program led by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and managed at NASA Marshall. Ensemble Consultancy supports the management of competitors for this challenge. Learn more about Break the Ice. Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 jonathan.e*****@*****.tld Facebook logo @nasaprize @NASAPrize Instagram logo @nasaprize Share Details Last Updated Jun 07, 2024 LocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related TermsCentennial ChallengesMarshall Space Flight Center Explore More 1 min read SERVIR Co-hosts Regional Workshop on Inclusive Climate Action Article 20 mins ago 1 min read SPoRT Undertakes New Collaboration with the ******* Nations (U.N.) Satellite Centre Article 37 mins ago 6 min read NASA, Global Astronomers Await Rare Nova ********** Article 23 hours ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics Centennial Challenges Break the Ice Challenge NASA Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Get Involved View the full article

Patrick Duran and Anita LeRoy (ST11) met with Samir Belabbes from the ******* Nations Institute for Training and Research to investigate ways for SPoRT to provide NASA remote sensing products to the UN Satellite Centre. The new collaboration springs from a presentation given by Belabbes at last year’s ****** Applications Workshop of NASA’s CYGNSS and TROPICS missions, which was organized by Duran and Jason Dunion from the University of Miami. The UN Satellite Centre maintains a 24/7 operational forecasting and disaster response center that serves UN member states. The Centre has a need for remote sensing datasets that enhance their ability to anticipate and respond to disasters, and data from new NASA missions such as TROPICS could be particularly beneficial for monitoring high-impact events. A key takeaway from the discussion is that the UN and its member states will be much better able to use NASA data if it is provided in GeoTIFF format. SPoRT will investigate ways to provide data products from current and upcoming NASA missions in this format for dissemination to UN member states and use at the UN operational forecasting and response centers. SPoRT ProcessView the full article