Friday, July 26, 2024

Introducing NASA's Space Crew-9 | International Space Station

Introducing NASA's Space Crew-9 | International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Commander Zena Cardman
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Commander Zena Cardman
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Pilot Nick Hague
SpaceX Crew-9 crew members: Commander  Zena Cardman and Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos (Russia)

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members stand in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are NASA astronauts Pilot Nick Hague and Commander Zena Cardman, Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Alexander Gorbunov of Russia, and NASA astronaut Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members poses for a group photo in front of the White Room located at the end of the crew access arm on the launch tower at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are, Pilot Nick Hague from NASA; Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson from NASA; Mission Specialist Alexsandr Gorbunov from Roscosmos (Russia); and Commander Zena Cardman from NASA.

As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch to the International Space Station and conduct a wide-ranging set of operational and research activities for the benefit of all.

Launching aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, NASA astronauts Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Nick Hague, and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia, will join Expedition 71 and 72 crew members no earlier than August. They will arrive to the space station for a short duration handover with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission.

This will be the first spaceflight for Cardman. She was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017. The Williamsburg, Virginia, native holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a master’s in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At time of selection, she was a doctoral candidate in geosciences. Cardman’s research focused on geobiology and geochemical cycling in subsurface environments, from caves to deep sea sediments. Since completing initial training, Cardman has supported real-time station operations and development for lunar surface exploration.

Zena Cardman's Official NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/zena-cardman/

With a total of 203 days in space, this will be Hague’s third launch and second mission to the orbiting laboratory. During his first launch in 2018, Hague and his crewmate, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, experienced a rocket booster failure resulting in an in-flight launch abort. The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft landed safely. Five months later, Hague launched aboard Soyuz MS-12 and served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expeditions 59 and 60. Hague and his crewmates participated in hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science. Hague conducted three spacewalks, to upgrade space station power systems and install a docking adapter for commercial spacecraft. As an active-duty colonel in the U.S. Space Force, Hague completed a developmental rotation at the Defense Department in Washington, where he served as the USSF director of test and evaluation from 2020 to 2022. In August 2022, Hague resumed duties at NASA working on the Boeing Starliner Program until this flight assignment.

Nick Hague's Official NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/nick-hague/

A veteran of three spaceflights, STS-121, STS-120, and STS-131, Wilson has spent 42 days in space aboard three separate space shuttle Discovery missions. Before her selection as a NASA astronaut in 1996, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin, and worked at Martin Marietta and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. During her first mission, STS-121 in November 2004, she and her crewmates spent 13 days in orbit. Wilson served as the robotic arm operator for spacecraft inspection, for the installation of the “Leonardo” Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, and for spacewalk support. In November 2006, Wilson and her STS-120 crewmates aboard Discovery delivered the Harmony module to the station and relocated a solar array. In May 2009, Wilson and her STS-131 crewmates completed another mission to resupply the station, delivering a new ammonia tank for the station cooling system, new crew sleeping quarters, a window observation facility, and a freezer for experiments. During her nearly 30 years with NASA, Wilson served as the integration branch chief for NASA’s Astronaut Office focusing on International Space Station systems and payload operations, and on a nine-month detail, served as the acting chief of NASA’s Program and Project Integration Office at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Stephanie Wilson's Official NASA Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/people/stephanie-d-wilson/

This will be Gorbunov’s first trip to space and the station. Born in Zheleznogorsk, Kursk region, Russia, he studied engineering with qualifications in spacecraft and upper stages from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Gorbunov graduated from the military department with a specialty in operation and repair of aircraft, helicopters, and aircraft engines. Before being selected as a cosmonaut in 2018, he worked as an engineer for Rocket Space Corporation Energia and supported cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

This is the ninth rotational mission to the space station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. It works with the American aerospace industry to meet the goal of safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the orbital outpost on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.

For more than two decades, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The station is a critical testbed for NASA to understand and overcome the challenges of long-duration spaceflight and to expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. As commercial companies focus on providing human space transportation services and destinations as part of a robust low Earth orbit economy, NASA’s Artemis campaign is underway at the Moon where the agency is preparing for future human exploration of Mars.

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.

Find more information on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew


Image Credits: SpaceX

Release Date: July 26, 2024


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #SpaceX #Engineering #Astronauts #StephanieWilson #ZenaCardman #NickHague #JSC #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #AleksandrGorbunov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #CCP #Expedition71 #STEM #Education

Pan of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3430 in Leo Minor | Hubble Space Telescope

Pan of Spiral Galaxy NGC 3430 in Leo Minor | Hubble Space Telescope

In this Hubble picture, we are treated to a detailed view of NGC 3430. A spiral galaxy, it lies 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor. Several other galaxies are located relatively nearby, just out of frame; one is close enough that gravitational interaction is driving star formation in NGC 3430.

NGC 3430 is a fine example of a galactic spiral. This may be why it ended up as part of the sample that Edwin Hubble used to define his classification of galaxies. Namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope, in 1926 he authored a paper that classified four hundred galaxies by their appearance—as either spiral, barred spiral, lenticular, elliptical or irregular. This straightforward typology proved immensely influential, and the modern, more detailed schemes that astronomers use today are still based on it. NGC 3430 itself is an SAc galaxy, a spiral lacking a central bar with open, clearly-defined arms.

At the time of Hubble’s paper, the study of galaxies in their own right was in its infancy. With the benefit of Henrietta Leavitt’s work on Cepheid variable stars, Hubble had only a couple of years before settled the debate about whether these ‘nebulae’, as they were called then, were situated within our galaxy or were distant and independent. He himself referred to ‘extragalactic nebulae’ in his paper, indicating that they lay beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Once it became clear that these distant objects were very different from actual nebulae, the favored term for a while was the quite poetic ‘island universe’. While NGC 3430 may look as if it still deserves this moniker, today we simply call it and the objects like it a ‘galaxy’.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy with three prominent arms wrapping around it, and plenty of extra gas and dark dust between the arms. There are shining blue points throughout the arms and patches of gas out beyond the galaxy’s edge, where stars are forming. The center of the galaxy also shines brightly. It is on a dark background where small orange dots mark distant galaxies.


Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: July 22, 2024


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC3430 #SAcGalaxy #LeoMinor #Constellation #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Nebula Kohoutek 3-46: A ‘Butterfly’ from Death’s Door | Gemini North Telescope

Nebula Kohoutek 3-46: A ‘Butterfly’ from Death’s Door | Gemini North Telescope


This ghostly, butterfly-shaped planetary nebula, captured by the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NOIRLab, is known as Kohoutek 3-46. Kohoutek 3-46 derives its name from the prolific planetary nebula hunter that discovered it, Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek. 

Located in the constellation Cygnus, Kohoutek 3-46 is estimated to be around 20,000 years old and around 7,200 light-years away. The term ‘planetary nebula’ is a misnomer, since these nebulae are unrelated to planets. The term originates from their planet-like round shape. Kohoutek 3-46 has expanded into an unusual bipolar shape, classified by its well-defined hourglass shape, prominent equatorial ring and marked waist. About 10–20% of planetary nebulae are bipolar. No matter the shape they take on, these glowing clouds of gas form after a star of one to eight times the mass of the Sun has expanded into a red giant. As the core of the red giant contracts, the star expels layers of its atmosphere into space. Energetic ultraviolet radiation from the hot, exposed core then ionizes this gaseous shell around it, ‘illuminating’ the planetary nebula.

Since 2002, Gemini North has also been known as the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope. Dr. Gillett, who died in April 2001, was one of the primary visionaries of the Gemini telescopes. He was instrumental in assuring that the design of Gemini's twin 8-meter telescopes would make major scientific contributions to astronomy.

Learn more about Gemini North here: https://www.gemini.edu

Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA

Image Processing: J. Miller (International Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Release Date: July 24, 2024


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebula #Kohoutek346 #PNK346 #BipolarNebula #Cygnus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #InternationalGeminiObservatory #GeminiNorthTelescope #GMOSN #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #Maunakea #Hawaii #UnitedStates #Astronomer #LubošKohoutek #Czech #STEM #Education

NASA Astronauts Salute 2024 Olympic Games in Paris | International Space Station

NASA Astronauts Salute 2024 Olympic Games in Paris | International Space Station

The 2024 Olympic Games officially began in Paris, France on July 26 with athletes coming from around the world to compete. Meanwhile, above the Earth—on our orbiting laboratory, the International Space Station—NASA's astronauts are sharing the Olympic spirit. Check out their training montage from space, followed by a message to Earth from NASA astronaut Matt Dominick.

Learn more about the station: https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/

Follow the 2024 Summer Olympics Games in Paris: 

https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024

Expedition 71 Updates: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 71 Crew
Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)


Credit: NASA

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: July 26, 2024


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Paris24 #OlympicGames2024 #Astronauts #Astronaut #MatthewDominick #SpaceLaboratory #Engineering #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition71 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Star Sailors | Week of July 26, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground: Star Sailors Week of July 26, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. 

Expedition 71 Updates: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 71 Crew
Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)


Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: July 26, 2024


#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #SpaceTechnology #SpaceLaboratory #Engineering #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition71 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Unique Feature Found in Bright Gamma-Ray Burst | NASA Fermi Space Telescope

Unique Feature Found in Bright Gamma-Ray Burst | NASA Fermi Space Telescope

In October 2022, astronomers were stunned by what was quickly dubbed the BOAT—the brightest-of-all-time gamma-ray burst (GRB). Now an international science team reports that data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals a feature never seen before.

GRBs are the most powerful explosions in the cosmos and emit copious amounts of gamma rays, the highest-energy form of light. The most common type occurs when the core of a massive star exhausts its fuel, collapses, and forms a rapidly spinning black hole. Matter falling into the black hole powers oppositely directed particle jets that blast through the star’s outer layers at nearly the speed of light. We detect GRBs when one of these jets points almost directly toward Earth.

A few minutes after the BOAT erupted, Fermi’s Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusual energy peak. Scientists now say this feature is the first high-confidence emission line ever seen in 50 years of studying GRBs.

When matter interacts with light, the energy can be absorbed and reemitted in characteristic ways. These interactions can brighten or dim particular colors (or energies), producing key features visible when the light is spread out, rainbow-like, in a spectrum. These features can reveal a wealth of information.

The science team says that the odds this feature is a fluke—just a noise fluctuation—are less than one chance in half a billion.

The BOAT, formally known as GRB 221009A, erupted Oct. 9, 2022, and promptly saturated most of the gamma-ray detectors in orbit, including those on Fermi. If part of the same population as previously detected GRBs, the BOAT was likely the brightest burst to appear in Earth’s skies in 10,000 years.

The putative emission line appears almost 5 minutes after the burst was detected and well after it had dimmed enough to end saturation effects for Fermi. The line persisted for at least 40 seconds, and the emission reached a peak energy of about 12 MeV (million electron volts). For comparison, the energy of visible light ranges from 2 to 3 electron volts.

The team thinks the most likely source for the emission line is the annihilation of electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons. When these particles collide, they produce a pair of gamma rays with an energy of 0.511 MeV. Because we are looking into the jet, where matter is moving at near light speed, this emission becomes greatly blueshifted and pushed toward much higher energies.

If this interpretation is correct, to produce an emission line peaking at 12 MeV, the annihilating particles had to have been moving toward us at about 99.9% the speed of light.


Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Producer: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Science writer: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)

Narrator: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Animators: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC), Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #GRB #GammaRayBursts #GRB221009A #BOAT #EmissionLine #Astrophysics #Fermi #FGST #SpaceTelescope #Cosmos #Universe #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thursday, July 25, 2024

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

Yesterday, ground teams at NASA's Kennedy Space Center offloaded the second core stage from the Pegasus barge and transported the future Artemis II launch vehicle to the historic Vehicle Assembly Building.

Like the rockets before it, this core stage will undergo final testing and outfitting before it launches humanity back into lunar orbit.

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

For more information about SLS, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/sls


Video Credit: Boeing Space

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #SLS #SLSCoreStage #Boeing #DeepSpace #Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #NASAKennedy #VAB #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Smoky Skies across North America | NASA Earth Observatory

Smoky Skies across North America | NASA Earth Observatory

  July 17 - 24, 2024

In July 2024, wildland fires in Canada billowed smoke that drifted across North America. A stretch of extreme heat, coupled with windy conditions and thunderstorms, helped spur the ignition and expansion of fires in several Canadian provinces. As of July 24, 989 fires actively burned in Canada, with over half of those occurring in British Columbia or Alberta, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

This animation  highlights the concentration and movement of wildfire smoke from July 17–24, 2024. It shows black carbon particles—commonly called soot—from Canadian fires sweeping broadly across North American skies during that period. Black carbon signatures from fires in Oregon and Washington are also prominent.

The black carbon data come from NASA’s GEOS forward processing (GEOS-FP) model, which assimilates data from satellites, aircraft, and ground-based observing systems. In addition to making use of satellite observations of aerosols and fires, GEOS-FP also incorporates meteorological data like air temperature, moisture, and winds to project the plume’s behavior.

Wildfire activity in British Columbia and Alberta intensified throughout the period shown in the animation, as unsettled weather entered the region. High winds and thunderstorms, on top of record-high temperatures in places, created prime conditions for wildfires. The B.C. Wildfire Service reported 20,000 lightning strikes on July 21 and 38,000 on July 22, with most of those strikes occurring in the northeast part of the province and the rest in the south-central portion.

The storms resulted in scores of new fires and multiple evacuations from towns and public lands. Smoke from the hundreds of active fires drifted across the country and south into the central United States. Smoky skies and poor air quality were reported in multiple states, including North Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, and Wisconsin.

Multiple fires in Jasper National Park in Alberta caused up to 25,000 visitors and residents to leave the area on July 23, according to news reports. 


Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang, using GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC and VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). 

Article Credit: Lindsey Doermann

Duration: 5 seconds

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #Space #Satellites #JPSS #Science #Earth #Planet #Canada #Alberta #BritishColumbia #Wildfires #Smoke #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Atmosphere #AirQuality #Weather #Meteorology #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

An Intriguing Mars Rock Discovered by NASA's Perseverance Rover | JPL

An Intriguing Mars Rock Discovered by NASA's Perseverance Rover | JPL

NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered “leopard spots” on a vein-filled, reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Mars’ Jezero Crater during July 2024. Scientists think the spots may indicate that, billions of years ago, the chemical reactions in this rock could have supported microbial life; other explanations are being considered. 

Analysis by instruments aboard the rover indicates the rock possesses qualities that fit the definition of a possible indicator of ancient life. The rock exhibits chemical signatures and structures that could possibly have been formed by life billions of years ago when the area being explored by the rover contained running water.

The rock—the rover’s 22nd rock core sample—was collected on July 21, 2024, as the rover explored the northern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley measuring a quarter-mile (400 meters) wide that was carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago.

For more about NASA's Perseverance rover:

science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance


Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Duration: 1 minute 

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #MicrobialLife #CheyavaFalls #BrightAngel #Geology #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #ASU #MSSS #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finds Intriguing Mars Rock | JPL

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finds Intriguing Mars Rock | JPL

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of a rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls" on July 18, 2024, the 1,212th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Running the length of the rock are large white calcium sulfate veins. Between those veins are bands of material whose reddish color suggests the presence of hematite, one of the minerals that gives Mars its distinctive rusty hue. Scientists are particularly interested in the millimeter-size, irregularly shaped light patches on the central reddish band (from lower left to upper right of the image) that are surrounded by a thin ring of dark material, akin to leopard spots. Spotting of this type on sedimentary terrestrial rocks can occur when chemical reactions involving hematite turn the rock from red to white. Those reactions can also release iron and phosphate, possibly causing the black halos to form, and they can be an energy source for microbes, hence the association between such features and microbes in a terrestrial setting.

The same image with annotations pointing out the leopard spots and olivine in the rock.
“Cheyava Falls” (left) shows the dark hole where NASA’s Perseverance took a core sample; the white patch is where the rover abraded the rock to investigate its composition. A rock nicknamed “Steamboat Mountain” (right) also shows an abrasion patch. This image was taken by Mastcam-Z on July 23, 2024. 
NASA’s Perseverance rover used its Mastcam-Z instrument to capture this 360-degree panorama of a region on Mars called “Bright Angel,” where an ancient river flowed billions of years ago. “Cheyava Falls” was discovered in the area slightly right of center, about 361 feet (110 meters) from the rover.

NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered “leopard spots” on a reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Mars’ Jezero Crater in July 2024. Scientists think the spots may indicate that, billions of years ago, the chemical reactions in this rock could have supported microbial life; other explanations are being considered. 

A vein-filled rock is catching the eye of the science team of NASA’s Perseverance rover. Nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” by the team, the arrowhead-shaped rock contains fascinating traits that may bear on the question of whether Mars was home to microscopic life in the distant past.

Analysis by instruments aboard the rover indicates the rock possesses qualities that fit the definition of a possible indicator of ancient life. The rock exhibits chemical signatures and structures that could possibly have been formed by life billions of years ago when the area being explored by the rover contained running water. Other explanations for the observed features are being considered by the science team, and future research steps will be required to determine whether ancient life is a valid explanation.

The rock—the rover’s 22nd rock core sample—was collected on July 21, 2024, as the rover explored the northern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley measuring a quarter-mile (400 meters) wide that was carved by water rushing into Jezero Crater long ago.

“We have designed the route for Perseverance to ensure that it goes to areas with the potential for interesting scientific samples,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This trip through the Neretva Vallis riverbed paid off as we found something we’ve never seen before, which will give our scientists so much to study.”

Multiple scans of Cheyava Falls by the rover’s SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument indicate it contains organic compounds. While such carbon-based molecules are considered the building blocks of life, they also can be formed by non-biological processes.

“Cheyava Falls is the most puzzling, complex, and potentially important rock yet investigated by Perseverance,” said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist of Caltech in Pasadena. “On the one hand, we have our first compelling detection of organic material, distinctive colorful spots indicative of chemical reactions that microbial life could use as an energy source, and clear evidence that water — necessary for life — once passed through the rock. On the other hand, we have been unable to determine exactly how the rock formed and to what extent nearby rocks may have heated Cheyava Falls and contributed to these features.”

Other details about the rock, which measures 3.2 feet by 2 feet (1 meter by 0.6 meters) and was named after a Grand Canyon waterfall, have intrigued the team, as well.

How Rocks Get Their Spots

In its search for signs of ancient microbial life, the Perseverance mission has focused on rocks that may have been created or modified long ago by the presence of water. That’s why the team homed in on Cheyava Falls.

“This is the kind of key observation that SHERLOC was built for — to seek organic matter as it is an essential component of a search for past life,” said SHERLOC’s principal investigator Kevin Hand of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission.

Running the length of the rock are large white calcium sulfate veins. Between those veins are bands of material whose reddish color suggests the presence of hematite, one of the minerals that gives Mars its distinctive rusty hue.

When Perseverance took a closer look at these red regions, it found dozens of irregularly shaped, millimeter-size off-white splotches, each ringed with black material, akin to leopard spots. Perseverance’s PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) instrument has determined these black halos contain both iron and phosphate.

“These spots are a big surprise,” said David Flannery, an astrobiologist and member of the Perseverance science team from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. “On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface.”

Spotting of this type on sedimentary terrestrial rocks can occur when chemical reactions involving hematite turn the rock from red to white. Those reactions can also release iron and phosphate, possibly causing the black halos to form. Reactions of this type can be an energy source for microbes, explaining the association between such features and microbes in a terrestrial setting.

In one scenario the Perseverance science team is considering, Cheyava Falls was initially deposited as mud with organic compounds mixed in that eventually cemented into rock. Later, a second episode of fluid flow penetrated fissures in the rock, enabling mineral deposits that created the large white calcium sulfate veins seen today and resulting in the spots.

Another Puzzle Piece

While both the organic matter and the leopard spots are of great interest, they aren’t the only aspects of the Cheyava Falls rock confounding the science team. They were surprised to find that these veins are filled with millimeter-size crystals of olivine, a mineral that forms from magma. The olivine might be related to rocks that were formed farther up the rim of the river valley and that may have been produced by crystallization of magma.

If so, the team has another question to answer: Could the olivine and sulfate have been introduced to the rock at uninhabitably high temperatures, creating an abiotic chemical reaction that resulted in the leopard spots?

“We have zapped that rock with lasers and X-rays and imaged it literally day and night from just about every angle imaginable,” said Farley. “Scientifically, Perseverance has nothing more to give. To fully understand what really happened in that Martian river valley at Jezero Crater billions of years ago, we’d want to bring the Cheyava Falls sample back to Earth, so it can be studied with the powerful instruments available in laboratories.”

More Mission Information

A key objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and as the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

NASA's Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance


Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #MicrobialLife #CheyavaFalls #BrightAngel #Geology #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #ASU #MSSS #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Ariane 6: Development of Europe’s Largest Rocket | European Space Agency

Ariane 6: Development of Europe’s Largest Rocket | European Space Agency

The first half of 2024 saw hundreds of people across Europe building and preparing Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket—Ariane 6.

Huge engines, boosters and outer shells met tiny screws, electrical boards and masses of supercooled fuel. All this came together at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, for the spectacular first launch of Ariane 6 on July 9, 2024, restoring Europe’s access to space.

Get a glimpse at the teamwork, skill, and care that went into this moment over many months, in this montage of Ariane 6 images, videos and timelapse photography spanning January 30 to July 9, 2024.

Learn more about Ariane 6:

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Launch_vehicles/Ariane_6_overview

https://www.arianespace.com/vehicle/ariane-6/


Video Credit: European Space Agency

Duration: 8 minutes

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #ESA #Space #Arianespace #Ariane6 #Ariane6Rocket #HeavyLift #RocketLaunch #FlightVA262 #Satellites #Science #GuianaSpaceCentre #Spaceport #Kourou #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #France #CNES #ArianeGroup #SpaceTechnology #Europe #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Conducts 2nd Full-Scale Inflatable Habitat Burst Pressure Test

NASA Conducts 2nd Full-Scale Inflatable Habitat Burst Pressure Test

NASA, Sierra Space, and ILC Dover recently conducted the second full-scale ultimate burst pressure test on Sierra Space’s Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) habitat using testing capabilities at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The inflatable module is planned to be used for human habitation in orbit, including on Blue Origin’s commercial space station, Orbital Reef, as part of NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, managed by NASA's Johnson Space Center. NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit will provide the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost and enable the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars, while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.

Learn more about Sierra Space's Life habitat technology:

https://www.sierraspace.com/commercial-space-stations/life-space-habitat/

For more information about NASA’s commercial low Earth orbit strategy, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/low-earth-orbit-economy/


Video Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

Duration: 27 seconds

Release Date: July 25, 2024


#NASA #Space #SierraSpace #ILCDover #SpaceStations #CommercialSpace #CommercialSpaceStations #LIFEHabitat #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #Earth #LEO #DeepSpace #SolarSystemExploration #MSFC #Huntsville #Alabama #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage Moved to Vehicle Assembly Building

NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage Moved to Vehicle Assembly Building









NASA’s massive 212-foot long Space Launch System (SLS) core stage was offloaded from the agency’s Pegasus Barge on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, after arriving at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Teams with Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) have transferred the rocket stage to the spaceport’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to prepare it for integration atop the mobile launcher ahead of the Artemis II Moon Mission launch.

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

For more information about SLS, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/sls


Image Credits: NASA/Cory Huston/Isaac Watson/Ben Smegelsky/Kim Shiflett

Image Dates: July 24, 2024


#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #SLS #SLSCoreStage #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #NASAKennedy #VAB #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Imágenes: 19 de julio 2024

NASA's "Espacio a Tierra" | Imágenes: 19 de julio 2024


Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional.

Aprende más sobre la ciencia a bordo de la estación espacial: https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-research-and-technology/ciencia-en-la-estacion/

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: 

https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov


Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 4 minute, 42 seconds

Release Date: July 24, 2024


#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #NASAenespañol #español #SpaceTechnology #SpaceLaboratory #Engineering #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition71 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

New Evidence of Water on Moon's Surface | China Chang'e-5 Lunar Mission

New Evidence of Water on Moon's Surface China Chang'e-5 Lunar Mission

A team of Chinese scientists has identified in a lunar sample, retrieved by the Chang'e-5 Moon Mission in 2020, a kind of mineral enriched with water in its molecular structure. An increasing body of evidence has pointed to the existence of water or water ice on the Moon's surface. However, it is more likely to be in the form of hydroxyl groups.

Now, scientists led by those from the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered a hydrated mineral that contains up to six molecules of crystalline water. According to a study published recently in the journal Nature Astronomy, water molecules weigh as much as about 41 percent of the total mass.

The researchers said this discovery signifies the first direct detection of molecular water within the lunar regolith, shedding light on an actual form of water molecules and ammonium on the Moon's surface.

The mineral's structure and composition bear a striking resemblance to a mineral found near volcanoes on Earth. At the same time, terrestrial contamination or rocket exhaust has been ruled out as the origin of this hydrate, according to the study.

This finding has unveiled a potential form in which water molecules may exist on the lunar surface: hydrated salts. Unlike volatile water ice, these hydrates are very stable in high-latitude regions of the moon, even in sunlit areas.

The origin and chemical form of lunar water had remained elusive, despite extensive laboratory research on lunar samples collected by NASA's Apollo mission dating from the 1960s and 1970s.

The researchers said China's discovery opens up new possibilities for the future development and utilization of lunar water resources.

Utilizing in-situ resources on the Moon will lay a foundation for establishing a long-term lunar station. China aims to build the basic model of an international lunar research station by 2035.

Chang'e-5 Moon Landing Site: Mons Rümker, region of Oceanus Procellarum—a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of the Moon.

The Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission was the first of its kind since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. This successful mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the former Soviet Union.


Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV)

Duration: 1 minute, 45 seconds

Release Date: July 24, 2024


#NASA #China #中国 #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #Water #H2O #Change5Mission #嫦娥五号 #CNSA #中国国家航天局 #SampleReturnMission #Spacecraft #Orbiter #Lander #Ascender #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #CAS #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Image of Cold Exoplanet 12 Light-years Away | James Webb Space Telescope

Image of Cold Exoplanet 12 Light-years Away | James Webb Space Telescope

An international team of astronomers using the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope have directly imaged an exoplanet roughly 12 light-years from Earth. While there was indirect evidence that the planet existed, it had not been confirmed until Webb imaged it. The planet is one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date.

The planet, known Epsilon Indi Ab, is several times the mass of Jupiter and orbits the K-type star Epsilon Indi A (Eps Ind A). It is around the age of our Sun, but slightly cooler. The team observed Epsilon Indi Ab using the coronagraph on Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). A coronagraph is used to block out the direct light from a star so that any nearby objects—otherwise hidden in the star's bright glare—can be resolved. Only a few tens of exoplanets have been directly imaged previously by space- and ground-based observatories.

“Our prior observations of this system have been more indirect measurements of the star, which actually allowed us to see ahead of time that there was likely a giant planet in this system tugging on the star,” said team member Caroline Morley of the University of Texas at Austin. “That's why our team chose this system to observe first with Webb.”

“This discovery is exciting because the planet is quite similar to Jupiter—it is a little warmer and is more massive, but is more similar to Jupiter than any other planet that has been imaged so far,” added lead author Elisabeth Matthews of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.

A Solar System analog

Previously imaged exoplanets tend to be the youngest, hottest exoplanets that are still radiating much of the energy from when they first formed. As planets cool and contract over their lifetime, they become significantly fainter and therefore harder to image.

“Cold planets are very faint, and most of their emission is in the mid-infrared,” explained Matthews. “Webb is ideally suited to conduct mid-infrared imaging, which is extremely hard to do from the ground. We also needed good spatial resolution to separate the planet and the star in our images, and the large Webb mirror is extremely helpful in this aspect.”

Epsilon Indi Ab is one of the coldest exoplanets to be directly detected, with an estimated temperature of 2 degrees Celsius—colder than any other imaged planet beyond our Solar System, and colder than all but one free-floating brown dwarf [1]. The planet is only around 100 degrees Celsius warmer than gas giants in our Solar System. This provides a rare opportunity for astronomers to study the atmospheric composition of true solar system analogs.

“Astronomers have been imagining planets in this system for decades; fictional planets orbiting Epsilon Indi have been the sites of Star Trek episodes, novels, and video games like Halo,” added Morley. “It's exciting to actually see a planet there ourselves, and begin to measure its properties.”

Not quite as predicted

Epsilon Indi Ab is the twelfth closest exoplanet to Earth known to date and the closest planet more massive than Jupiter. The science team chose to study Eps Ind A because the system showed hints of a possible planetary body using a technique called radial velocity. It measures the back-and-forth wobbles of the host star along our line of sight.

“While we expected to image a planet in this system, because there were radial velocity indications of its presence, the planet we found isn't what we had predicted,” shared Matthews. “It’s about twice as massive, a little farther from its star, and has a different orbit than we expected. The cause of this discrepancy remains an open question. The atmosphere of the planet also appears to be a little different than the model predictions. So far we only have a few photometric measurements of the atmosphere, meaning that it is hard to draw conclusions, but the planet is fainter than expected at shorter wavelengths.”

The team believes this may mean there is significant methane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide in the planet’s atmosphere that are absorbing the shorter wavelengths of light. It might also suggest a very cloudy atmosphere.

The direct imaging of exoplanets is particularly valuable for characterization. Scientists can directly collect light from the observed planet and compare its brightness at different wavelengths. So far, the science team has only detected Epsilon Indi Ab at a few wavelengths, but they hope to revisit the planet with Webb to conduct both photometric and spectroscopic observations in the future. They also hope to detect other similar planets with Webb to find possible trends about their atmospheres and how these objects form.

Science Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07837-8 

Note:

[1] This brown dwarf, known as Wise 0855, was discovered in 2014, and has been observed by Webb.


Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, E. Matthews (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy)

Release Date: July 24, 2024


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Star #HIP65426 #Exoplanet #Planet #EpsilonIndiAb  #Atmosphere #Indus #Constellation #Science #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #JWST #MIRI #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Infographic #STEM #Education