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Parabolic Flights: How NASA Uses Airplanes for Research
What is a parabolic flight? And why are researchers eager to take a ride? NASA Life Sciences Project Scientist Dr. Gioia Massa talks about the research platform that simulates microgravity.
What’s Behind This Door? NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab | Johnson Space Center
This episode of "What's Behind this Door?" features the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL). It showcases how the facility is used for International Space Station spacewalks and training, the important role of the dive teams, and how the facility will be used to prepare for the Artemis Program. In 1966, NASA began to use neutral buoyancy as a tool for spacewalk training, a method astronauts still rely on today.
As you drive by buildings at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), did you ever stop to wonder what's behind some of the doors? We did too, so we created the "What's Behind this Door?" series. These will be 2- 3-minute video series targeted for both JSC employees and social media audiences. The series gives a behind-the-scenes look and explores behind different doors and facilities at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
The Moon's Schomberger Crater | Intuitive Machines' Odysseus Lunar Lander
On February 22, 2024, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander captured a wide field of view image of Schomberger Crater on the Moon "approximately 125 miles (200 km) uprange from its intended landing site, at approximately about 6 miles (10 km) altitude." Schomberger is a prominent lunar impact crater that lies in the southern part of the Moon, in the area near the limb.
On Feb. 22, 2024, the IM-1 Mission Nova-C Moon Lander, named "Odysseus," became the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon’s surface since the NASA Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972. It appears that the lander is in a horizontal orientation instead of a vertical one and that communication with the lander remains an issue. Intuitive Machines hopes to provide post-landing pictures and an update on the spacecraft's operational capabilities and status over the next several days.
China's Chang'e 3 Mission, the first Chinese landing on the Moon in 2013, was the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976.
In 2023, after the Chandrayaan-3 Lander successfully soft-landed on the Moon, India became the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to accomplish this.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative allows NASA to send science investigations and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface. Under Artemis, NASA will study more of the Moon than ever before, and CLPS will demonstrate how NASA is working with commercial companies to achieve robotic lunar exploration.
A Commercial U.S. Lander Arrives on The Moon | This Week @NASA
Week of February 23, 2024: A commercial United States lander arrives on the Moon, discussing science on the International Space Station, and preparing for the next space station crew rotation mission . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
On February 22, 2024, the IM-1 Mission Nova-C Moon Lander, named "Odysseus," became the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon’s surface since the NASA Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972. It appears that the lander is in a horizontal orientation instead of a vertical one and that constant and reliable communications with the lander remains an issue. Over the weekend, Intuitive Machines hopes to provide the first pictures and an update on the spacecraft's operational capabilities and status.
China's Chang'e 3 Mission, the first Chinese landing on the Moon in 2013, was the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976.
In 2023, after the Chandrayaan-3 Lander successfully soft-landed on the Moon, India became the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to accomplish this.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative allows NASA to send science investigations and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface. Under Artemis, NASA will study more of the Moon than ever before, and CLPS will demonstrate how NASA is working with commercial companies to achieve robotic lunar exploration.
China Names Its Crewed Moon Exploration Vehicles Mengzhou & Lanyue
The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) on Feb. 24, 2024, unveiled the official names of the new vehicles for its future crewed lunar exploration missions. After an open solicitation and selection, the new-generation crewed spacecraft and the lunar lander for the missions were named Mengzhou and Lanyue, respectively.
According to an earlier report, China plans to land its astronauts on the moon before 2030. The plan is to launch two carrier rockets to send a lunar lander and a manned spacecraft, respectively, to a lunar orbit. The craft and the lunar lander will rendezvous and dock with each other, and then astronauts will enter the lander.
The names of the new vehicles were solicited from the public in an event launched last August, which drew enthusiastic participation from across the country. The two names chosen were selected from nearly 2,000 submissions.
"The names Mengzhou and Lanyue of the two new space vehicles carry distinct characteristics of China and the times, and have rich cultural connotations. The manned spacecraft Mengzhou and the lunar lander Lanyue, together with the Long March-10 carrier rocket, will carry forward Chinese people's dream of exploring the vast universe and reaching the moon," said Ji Qiming, director assistant of the CMSEO.
The new-generation spacecraft Mengzhou has two versions—one for lunar exploration and the other for carrying astronauts to China's space station.
Video Credit: China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)/CCTV
On February 22, 2024, the IM-1 Mission Nova-C Moon Lander, named "Odysseus," became the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon’s surface since the NASA Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972. It appears that the lander is in a horizontal orientation instead of a vertical one and that constant and reliable communications with the lander remains an issue. Over the weekend, Intuitive Machines hopes to provide the first pictures and an update on the spacecraft's operational capabilities and status.
China's Chang'e 3 Mission, the first Chinese landing on the Moon in 2013, was the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976.
In 2023, after the Chandrayaan-3 Lander successfully soft-landed on the Moon, India became the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to accomplish this.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative allows NASA to send science investigations and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface. Under Artemis, NASA will study more of the Moon than ever before, and CLPS will demonstrate how NASA is working with commercial companies to achieve robotic lunar exploration.
NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Test#7: Preparing for Crewed Missions
An Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 rocket engine (RS-25 developmental engine E0525) was tested on the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1 Test Stand) at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, on February 23, 2024, at 13:04 Central Standard Time (19:04 UTC).
This was the seventh hot fire test out of the 12 planned in the final round of certification testing ahead of production of an updated set of engines for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) that will be used beginning with Artemis V.
The test had a planned duration of 550 seconds, with the RS-25 engine running up to 113% power level, more than the level needed to power SLS.
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
China's Tiangong Space Station Holds Youth Art Exhibition
An exhibition, featuring 53 pieces of art made by children, was launched at China's orbiting Tiangong Space Station on Friday, February 23, 2024. Under the theme of "Chinese modernization in the eyes of children," this is the third exhibition of its kind held on the Tiangong. The paintings were selected from more than 20,000 pieces of artwork by youngsters from across China since October last year.
The Shenzhou-17 crew, namely Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, who arrived at the space station on Oct 26, 2023 for a six-month mission, displayed the paintings on two large silk scrolls.
The trio sent a message of encouragement to the youngsters across China, hoping that they will turn their best wishes for the motherland in the paintings into reality one day.
The 53 paintings, along with space supplies, were sent to the station by the Tianzhou-7, the latest cargo spacecraft launched by China on Jan 17.
The first Tiangong painting exhibition was held on Jan 1, 2022.
The Shenzhou-17 crew continue to research human adaptation to the space environment. So far, they have successfully completed many tasks, including spacewalks, moving equipment out of the space station for space experiments, managing equipment and facilities, and maintaining experiment facilities for long term science research.
Shenzhou-17 is the sixth crew of three astronauts on a mission to the China Space Station. Shenzhou-17 is also the twelfth crewed and seventeenth flight overall of China's Shenzhou spaceflight program.
Shenzhou-17 Crew:
Hongbo Tang (Commander)
Shengjie Tang (Mission Specialist)
Xinlin Jiang (Mission Specialist)
Video Credit: China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)/CCTV Video News
NASA's Space to Ground: "It's All About the Science" | Week of Feb. 23, 2024
Week of Feb. 23, 2024: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. An uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 87 spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station’s aft port of the Zvezda service module on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024, as the orbiting laboratory was 260 miles over the south Pacific Ocean. The spacecraft launched on a Soyuz rocket on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Progress delivered almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station for the Expedition 70 crew.
Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)
Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov
JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)
NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)
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 SpaceX Crew-8 Mission Training Resource Reel | Johnson Space Center
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 crew trains for their upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Their training took place across the world, most notably at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California. The crew consists of NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, mission specialist. Once aboard the International Space Station, they will become expedition 70/71 flight engineers, spending several months conducting science experiments and maintaining the orbital outpost.
Crew-8 is slated to launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, powered by the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A no earlier than 12:04 a.m. EST on Friday, March 1, 2024.
Alexander Grebenkin graduated from Irkutsk High Military Aviation School, Irkutsk, Russia, majoring in engineering, maintenance, and repair of aircraft radio navigation systems. He graduated from Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics with a degree in radio communications, broadcasting, and television.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program works with the American aerospace industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
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.
The Strongest Solar Flare of the Current Cycle | NASA SDO
The Sun emitted a X6.3 class solar flare on February 22, 2024, peaking at approximately 22:34 UTC, the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle, so far.
Video Credits: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams
Earth's atmosphere refracts the Moon's light as it sets below the horizon in this photograph from the International Space Station while orbiting 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
The waxing gibbous Moon is pictured above the Earth's horizon in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above a cloudy Western Europe.
A full Moon rises just above the blue glow of Earth's horizon as the International Space Station orbited 271 miles over the South Pacific Ocean.
The waning crescent Moon was pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above the Indian Ocean.
Station Commander: Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (Denmark)
Roscosmos (Russia): Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Konstantin Borisov
JAXA: Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa (Japan)
NASA: Jasmin Moghbeli, Loral O'Hara (USA)
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.
Evidence for Neutron Star Inside SN 1987a Supernova Remnant | NASA Webb
The NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, occurred 160,000 light-years from Earth in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. SN 1987A was a type II supernova that was observed on Earth in 1987, the first supernova that was visible to the naked eye since 1604—before the advent of telescopes. It provided the astronomical community a rare opportunity to study the evolution of a supernova and what was left behind, from the very beginning. SN 1987A was a core-collapse supernova, meaning the compacted remains at its core are expected to have formed either a neutron star or a black hole. Evidence for such a compact object has long been sought, and whilst indirect evidence for the presence of a neutron star has previously been found, this is the first time that the effects of high energy emission from the young neutron star has been detected.
LEFT: Webb’s 2023 NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image of SN 1987A that highlights the object’s central structure, expanding with several thousands km/s. The blue region is the densest part of the clumpy ejecta, containing heavy elements like carbon, oxygen, magnesium and iron, as well as dust. The bright ‘ring of pearls’ is the result of the collision of the ejecta with a ring of gas ejected about 20,000 years before the explosion. Now spots are found even exterior to the ring, with diffuse emission surrounding it. These are the locations of supernova shocks hitting more exterior material from the progenitor star. The outer ejecta is now illuminated by X-rays from the collision, while the inner ejecta is powered mainly by radioactivity and a putative compact object.
RIGHT: An international team of astronomers has now used two of Webb’s instruments to study the emissions from the core of SN 1987A. The top image features the data from Webb’s MRS (Medium Resolution Spectrograph) mode of the MIRI instrument (Mid-InfraRed Instrument). The bottom image depicts data from Webb’s NIRSpec (Near Infrared Spectrograph) at shorter wavelengths. Spectral analysis of the MIRI results showed a strong signal due to ionized argon from the center of the ejected material that surrounds the original site of SN 1987A. The NIRSpec data found even more heavily ionized chemical species, particularly five times ionized argon (meaning argon atoms that have lost five of their 18 electrons). Weak lines of ionized sulphur were also detected with MIRI. This indicated to the science team that there is a source of high-energy radiation in the center of the SN 1987A remnant, illuminating an almost point-like region in the center. The most likely source is believed to be a newly born neutron star.
Image Description: A graphic with three images, each of a glowing, ring-shaped nebula. The left side shows a large, full-color image of the nebula and its surroundings, labelled “NIRCam”. A rectangle in the center of the nebula is highlighted and two images of this area are pulled out to the right. Both are shown in shades of orange. The top one is labelled “MIRI MRS Argon II” and the bottom one “NIRSpec IFU Argon VI.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and C. Fransson (Stockholm University), M. Matsuura (Cardiff University), M. J. Barlow (University College London), P. J. Kavanagh (Maynooth University), J. Larsson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Planet Mars: View of Wilkerson Butte | NASA Mars Curiosity Rover | JPL
MSL - sol 4096
This butte on Mars, called "Wilkerson," is located across the Gediz Valley Ridge. It was captured by NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover on sol 4096. In geomorphology, a butte is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word butte comes from the French word butte, meaning knoll (but of any size); its use is prevalent in the Western United States, including the southwest where mesa (Spanish for "table") is used for the larger landform. Due to their distinctive shapes, buttes are frequently landmarks in plains and mountainous areas. To differentiate the two landforms, geographers use the rule of thumb that a mesa has a top that is wider than its height, while a butte has a top that is narrower than its height. [Source: Wikipedia]
Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket: Preparing for NASA Artemis Moon Missions
Blue Origin's New Glenn vehicle successfully rolled out and upended today for the first time on the pad at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This milestone represents the first view of the advanced heavy-lift vehicle. It will support a multitude of customer missions and Blue Origin programs, including returning to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
Everything on the pad is New Glenn hardware. The upending is one in a series of major manufacturing and integrated test milestones in preparation for New Glenn’s first launch later this year. The test campaign enables Blue Origin teams to practice, validate, and increase proficiency in vehicle integration, transport, ground support, and launch operations. These tests do not require engines that are now hotfiring at the historic 4670 Test Stand in Huntsville, Alabama, and at Launch Site One in West Texas.
The journey to the pad began in December 2023 when New Glenn’s first-stage modules were transported from Blue Origin's factory to the Integration Facility nine miles away. The tests will conclude in the coming weeks following several demonstrations of cryogenic fluid loading, pressure control, and the vehicle’s venting systems. Blue Origin's launch pad and ground systems are complete and will be activated for the first time during the test campaign.
New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. The rocket stands more than 320 feet (98 meters) high—roughly the height of a 30-story building—and features a seven-meter payload fairing, enabling twice the volume of standard five-meter class commercial launch systems. The fairing is large enough to hold three school buses. Its reusable first stage aims for a minimum of 25 missions and will land on a sea-based platform located roughly 620 miles (1,000 km) downrange. Reusability is integral to radically reducing cost-per-launch.
The vehicle is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines, the most powerful liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquefied natural gas (LNG) engine developed since Saturn V’s F1 engines. LNG is cleaner-burning and higher-performing than kerosene-based fuels.
Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production and a full customer manifest. Customers include NASA, Project Kuiper, Telesat, and Eutelsat, among others.
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