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NASA Kennedy’s Swamp Works Celebrates a Decade of Discoveries
This year, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Swamp Works. Swamp Works was developed as a space devoted to innovation and collaboration across Kennedy’s research facilities, which include the granular mechanics and regolith operations (GMRO), applied chemistry, electrostatics and surface physics, and applied physics laboratories.
As NASA prepares to return to the Moon, the technologies developed at Swamp Works are playing a major role across multiple programs at the agency. These advancements will help provide humans with the capabilities that will be needed for living and exploring on the surfaces of the Moon, and one day, Mars.
NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 Prepares for Launch | International Space Station
The four crew members that comprise the SpaceX Crew-6 mission are pictured in front of the SpaceX Dragon crew ship during a crew equipment integration test at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. From left, in their pressure suits are, Mission Specialist Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos; Pilot Warren "Woody" Hoburg and Commander Stephen Bowen, both from NASA; and Mission Specialist Sultan Alneyadi from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
Roscosmos cosmonaut and SpaceX Crew-6 Mission Specialist Andrey Fedyaev is pictured during a Crew Dragon cockpit training session at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California
Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre astronaut and SpaceX Crew-6 Mission Specialist Sultan Alneyadi is pictured during a Crew Dragon cockpit training session at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California
The four crew members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station are Mission Specialist Sultan Al Nedayi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mission Specialist Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos (Russia), Pilot William Hoburg (NASA), and Commander Stephen Bowen (NASA). Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.
Work to Do Outside the International Space Station | This Week @NASA
Week of Feb. 3, 2023: Work to do outside the International Space Station, honoring a pair of former astronauts, and a milestone on Mars . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Training Astronauts for Moon Exploration | European Space Agency
Astronauts with their sights on the Moon receive world-class geology training during the fifth edition of European Space Agency’s Pangaea campaign.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA’s Stephanie Wilson joined the course to learn how to read a landscape, collect scientifically relevant rocks and effectively communicate their geological observations. From choosing landing sites for a future Artemis mission, to designing science operations for a moonwalk, the course challenges space explorers to become field scientists.
The astronauts gather a wealth of geological knowledge and learn how to be the eyes and ears of scientists on the ground through a balanced mix of theory and field trips across Europe. A crew of leading European planetary scientists and engineers make sure the trainees work in tandem using the best geology observation techniques.
The course began in September 2022 in the Italian Dolomites with lessons on martian geology and asteroids at the Bletterbach canyon.
During the second leg of the training, Alexander and Stephanie followed the footsteps of Apollo astronauts to study the Ries crater in Germany, one of the best-preserved impact craters on Earth, where American crews trained before their flight to the Moon.
The astronauts travelled to the Spanish Canary Island of Lanzarote for an intense week of training in November 2022, where they learned about the geological interactions between volcanic activity and water—two key factors in the search for life.
Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Anna Kikina & Dmitri Petelin
NASA: Flight Engineers Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio & Josh Cassada
JAXA (Japan): Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
NASA's Space to Ground: Flame On | Week of Feb. 3, 2023
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata concluded their spacewalk at 2:26 p.m. EST after six hours and 41 minutes on Feb. 2, 2023.
Mann and Wakata completed their major objective for today, which was to complete the construction of a mounting platform on the 1A power channel that was started during a spacewalk on Jan. 20. In addition, they relocated an articulating portable foot restraint from the P6 truss for future spacewalk tasks and deployed cables for the installation of the next pair of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs).
The installation was part of a series of spacewalks to augment the station’s power channels with new iROSAs. Four iROSAs have been installed so far, and two additional arrays will be mounted to the installed platforms during future spacewalks following their arrival later this year on SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply services mission for NASA.
It was the 259th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, upgrades, and maintenance, the second spacewalk of 2023, and the second spacewalk for both astronauts.
Mann and Wakata are in the midst of a planned six-month science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including to the Moon through NASA’s Artemis missions.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
Training for NASA's Artemis II Crewed Moon Mission | Kennedy Space Center
Members of the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) landing and recovery team gather for a group photograph in front of the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) at the turn basin in the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 1, 2023. The CMTA is being used to practice recovery after splashdown of the Orion spacecraft to prepare for the Artemis II crewed mission. EGS leads recovery efforts.
Liliana Villarreal, Artemis landing and recovery director with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), stands in front of the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) at the turn basin in the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 1, 2023
Liliana Villarreal, Artemis landing and recovery director with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), stands in front of the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA)
Liliana Villarreal, Artemis landing and recovery director with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), christens the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) with champagne during a naming ceremony at the turn basin in the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 30, 2023
A crane lowers the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) into water at the turn basin in the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 30, 2023. The CMTA is being used to practice recovery after splashdown of the Orion spacecraft to prepare for the Artemis II crewed mission. Exploration Ground Systems leads recovery efforts
Landing and recovery team members secure the Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) in the water at the turn basin in the Launch Complex 39 area
The Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) landing and recovery team at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is training for recovery after splashdown of the Orion spacecraft to prepare for the Artemis II crewed mission. EGS leads recovery efforts. The Crew Module Test Article (CMTA) is being used to practice recovery after splashdown of the Orion spacecraft.
Hubble has used microlensing to measure the mass of a white dwarf star.
The dwarf, called LAWD 37, is a burned-out star in the center of this Hubble Space Telescope image that is featured in this pan video. Though its nuclear fusion furnace has shut down, trapped heat is sizzling on the surface at roughly 100,000 degrees Celsius, causing the stellar remnant to glow fiercely.
The white dwarf has a ‘spike’ because it is so bright that the light ‘bled’ into the Hubble camera’s CCD detector. This interfered with one of the observing dates for measuring that background star’s position on the sky.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), P. McGill (Univ. of California, Santa Cruz and University of Cambridge), K. Sahu (STScI), J. Depasquale (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)
Hubble Measures Deflection of Starlight by a Foreground Object
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have for the first time directly measured the mass of a single, isolated white dwarf called LAWD 37—the surviving core of a burned-out Sun-like star. LAWD 37 has been extensively studied because it is only 15 light-years away in the constellation Musca.
This illustration shows how the gravity of a foreground white dwarf star warps space and bends the light from a distant star behind it. Astronomers using the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope have for the first time directly measured the mass of a single, isolated star other than our Sun—thanks to this optical trick of nature. The target was a white dwarf—the surviving core of a burned-out Sun-like star. The greater the temporary, infinitesimal deflection of the background star’s image, the more massive the foreground star is. Researchers found that the dwarf is 56 percent the mass of our Sun.
This effect, called gravitational lensing, was predicted as a consequence of Einstein’s general theory of relativity from a century ago. Observations of a solar eclipse in 1919 provided the first experimental proof for general relativity. However, Einstein did not think the same experiment could be done for stars beyond our Sun because of the extraordinary precision required.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), A. Feild
Is Planet Earth's Polar Ice Melting? We Asked a NASA Expert
Is polar ice melting? The sobering answer is yes, and it is the number one contributor to sea level rise. NASA scientist Dr. Brooke Medley tells us how NASA studies the relationship between ice sheets and sea level to better understand our changing planet.
On Jan. 25, 2023, NOAA satellites captured an unusually long and long-lived rope cloud produced by a cold front over the Gulf of Mexico.
A rope cloud is a very long, narrow, rope-like band of cumulus cloud formations. Generally associated with a cold front or a land-sea breeze front, rope clouds tend to form at the dividing line between cooler and warmer air.
Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
A snapshot of the Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus) is the most recent from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. The Tarantula Nebula is a large star-forming region of ionized hydrogen gas that lies 161,000 light years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and its turbulent clouds of gas and dust can be seen swirling between the region’s bright, newly-formed stars.
Image Description: Wispy, nebulous clouds extend from the lower-left of the image. At the top and right the dark background of space can be seen through the sparse nebula. Along the left and in the corner are many layers of brightly-colored gas and dark, obscuring dust. A cluster of small, bright blue stars in the same corner expands out across the image. Many much smaller stars cover the background.
The Tarantula Nebula is a familiar site for Hubble. It is the brightest star-forming region in our galactic neighborhood and home to the hottest, most massive stars known. This makes it a perfect natural laboratory in which to test out theories of star formation and evolution, and a rich variety of Hubble images of this region have been released to the public in recent years. The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope also recently delved into this region, revealing thousands of never-before-seen young stars.
This new image combines data from two different observing proposals. The first was designed to explore the properties of the dust grains that exist in the void between stars and which make up the dark clouds winding through this image. This proposal, which astronomers named Scylla, complements another Hubble observing proposal called Ulysses and is revealing how interstellar dust interacts with starlight in a variety of environments. This image also incorporates data from an observing program studying star formation in conditions similar to the early Universe, as well as cataloguing the stars of the Tarantula Nebula for future science with Webb.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, E. Sabbi
Zoom to First Kilonova Progenitor System Identified | NOIRLab
Travel 11,400 light-years: Astronomers using data from the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, have made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova—the ultra-powerful, gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars. These systems are so phenomenally rare that only about ten such systems are thought to exist in the entire Milky Way.
This unusual system, known as CPD-29 2176, is located about 11,400 light-years from Earth. It was first identified by NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Later observations with the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope allowed astronomers to deduce the orbital characteristics and types of stars that make up this system—a neutron star created by an ultra-stripped supernova and a closely orbiting massive star that is in the process of becoming an ultra-stripped supernova itself.
An ultra-stripped supernova is the end-of-life explosion of a massive star that has had much of its outer atmosphere stripped away by a companion star. This class of supernova lacks the explosive force of a traditional supernova, which would otherwise “kick” a nearby companion star out of the system.
Credit:
CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani/D. de Martin/N. Bartmann
Remembering Shuttle Columbia Crew: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Octavia Butler & Panel
Looking Back: On Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia fell apart as it was attempting to reenter Earth’s atmosphere at the end of its 16-day mission, killing all seven astronauts on board: David M. Brown, Rick D. Husband, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, William C. McCool and Ilan Ramon.
Back then, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (as the PBS NewsHour was then known) marked the tragedy with coverage of the national memorial service, but also a philosophical discussion about the sociocultural significance of astronauts and what space travel itself represents for humanity. Among the panelists was acclaimed science fiction author Octavia Butler, who offered insight into the place that space and its explorers occupy in our collective imagination.
Newshour anchor Jim Lehrer also spoke with historian Roger Launius, then of the Air and Space Museum in Washington, science writer Timothy Ferris and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson reflected how astronauts hold a special place in American culture due in part to the way humanity has always valorized those who’ve risked their lives to be on the frontier of discovery.
Satellite Drag Sail: Space Debris Prevention | European Space Agency
Setting sail for safer space: This is a camera view from a satellite after it unfurled a sail like a ship of old, although its purpose was not to start a journey, but only hasten its fall back to Earth.
The Drag Augmentation Deorbiting System Nano (ADEO-N)—a 3.6-sq-m aluminium-coated polyamide membrane attached to four metallic booms—deployed from a 10 cm box aboard the ION Satellite Carrier. Launched in 2021, this is a satellite platform flown by D-ORBIT in Italy, used to deliver miniature ‘CubeSats’ into their individual orbits.
By increasing the overall area of the satellite, ADEO-N sail will increase the gradual air drag acting upon it from atoms at the top of the atmosphere, and speed up its atmospheric reentry accordingly.
The technology was developed by HPS in Germany through an ESA General Support Technology Program project, developing and testing promising space technologies. Previous versions have already been deployed but this in-flight test represented the final technological proof-of-concept for the ADEO family.
European Space Agency structural engineer Tiziana Cardone oversaw the project: “The ADEO-N sail will ensure that the satellite will reenter in around one year and three months, while otherwise it would have reentered in four to five years.”
The aim is to contribute to ESA’s Zero Debris Initiative—as ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher has remarked: “If you bring a spacecraft to orbit you have to remove it.”
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