Hubble's Successor Captures a Glimpse of the Second Largest World in Our Solar System...

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Tiscareno (SETI Institute), M. Hedman (University of Idaho), M. El Moutamid (Cornell University), M. Showalter (SETI Institute), L. Fletcher (University of Leicester), H. Hammel (AURA); image processing by J. DePasquale (STScI)

Saturn’s Rings Shine in Webb’s Observations of Ringed Planet (News Release)

Editor’s Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.

On June 25, 2023, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope turned to famed ringed world Saturn for its first near-infrared observations of the planet. The initial imagery from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) is already fascinating researchers.

Saturn itself appears extremely dark at this infrared wavelength observed by the telescope, as methane gas absorbs almost all of the sunlight falling on the atmosphere. However, the icy rings stay relatively bright, leading to the unusual appearance of Saturn in the Webb image.

This image was taken as part of Webb Guaranteed Time Observation program 1247. The program included several very deep exposures of Saturn, which were designed to test the telescope’s capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and its bright rings.

Any newly-discovered moons could help scientists put together a more complete picture of the current system of Saturn, as well as its past.

This new image of Saturn clearly shows details within the planet’s ring system, along with several of the planet’s moons – Dione, Enceladus and Tethys. Additional deeper exposures (not shown here) will allow the team to probe some of the planet’s fainter rings, not visible in this image, including the thin G ring and the diffuse E ring.

Saturn’s rings are made up of an array of rocky and icy fragments – the particles range in size from smaller than a grain of sand to a few as large as mountains on Earth. Researchers recently used Webb to explore Enceladus, and found a large plume jetting from the southern pole of the moon that contains both particles and plentiful amounts of water vapor – this plume feeds Saturn’s E ring.

Saturn’s atmosphere also shows surprising and unexpected detail. Although the Cassini spacecraft observed the atmosphere at greater clarity, this is the first time that the planet’s atmosphere has been seen with this clarity at this particular wavelength (3.23 microns), which is unique to Webb.

The large, dark, diffuse structures in the northern hemisphere do not follow the planet’s lines of latitude, so this image is lacking the familiar striped appearance that is typically seen from Saturn’s deeper atmospheric layers. The patchiness is reminiscent of large-scale planetary waves in the stratospheric aerosols high above the main clouds, potentially similar to those seen in early Webb NIRCam observations of Jupiter.

When comparing the northern and southern poles of the planet in this image, the differences in appearance are typical with known seasonal changes on Saturn. For example, Saturn is currently experiencing northern summertime, with the southern hemisphere emerging from the darkness at the end of a winter.

However, the northern pole is particularly dark, perhaps due to an unknown seasonal process affecting polar aerosols in particular. A tiny hint of brightening towards the edge of Saturn’s disk might be due to high-altitude methane fluorescence (the process of emitting light after absorbing light), emission from the trihydrogen ion (H₃+) in the ionosphere, or both; spectroscopy from Webb could help confirm this.

Missions like NASA’s Pioneer 11, Voyagers 1 and 2, the Cassini spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope have tracked Saturn’s atmosphere and rings for many decades. These observations from Webb are just a hint at what this observatory will add to Saturn’s story in the coming years as the science team delves deep into the data to prepare peer-reviewed results.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Tiscareno (SETI Institute), M. Hedman (University of Idaho), M. El Moutamid (Cornell University), M. Showalter (SETI Institute), L. Fletcher (University of Leicester), H. Hammel (AURA); image processing by J. DePasquale (STScI)

On This Day in 2013: Atlantis Is Opened to the Public...

It was 10 years ago today that the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit was opened to the general public at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. I myself didn't see the retired orbiter in person till almost 9 years later...in March of 2022.

You can view more photos from my trip to Cape Canaveral by clicking below.

LINK: Additional photos I took at Cape Canaveral on March 25-27, 2022

And back here on the West Coast, I look forward to heading back to the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles to see the latest progress on the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, space shuttle Endeavour's future and final home! Stay tuned.

Hubble's Successor Has Made an Amazing Discovery About the Orion Nebula...

ESA / Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA / Webb) and the PDRs4All ERS Team

Webb Makes First Detection of Crucial Carbon Molecule (News Release)

A team of international scientists has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to detect a new carbon compound in space for the first time. Known as methyl cation (pronounced cat-eye-on) (CH₃+), the molecule is important because it aids the formation of more complex carbon-based molecules.

Methyl cation was detected in a young star system, with a protoplanetary disk, known as d203-506, which is located about 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula.

Carbon compounds form the foundations of all known life, and as such are particularly interesting to scientists working to understand both how life developed on Earth, and how it could potentially develop elsewhere in our universe. The study of interstellar organic (carbon-containing) chemistry, which Webb is opening in new ways, is an area of keen fascination to many astronomers.

The unique capabilities of Webb made it an ideal observatory to search for this crucial molecule. Webb’s exquisite spatial and spectral resolution, as well as its sensitivity, all contributed to the team’s success.

In particular, Webb’s detection of a series of key emission lines from CH₃+ cemented the discovery.

“This detection not only validates the incredible sensitivity of Webb but also confirms the postulated central importance of CH₃+ in interstellar chemistry,” said Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel of the University of Paris-Saclay in France, a member of the science team. While the star in d203-506 is a small red dwarf, the system is bombarded by strong ultraviolet (UV) light from nearby hot, young, massive stars.

Scientists believe that most planet-forming disks go through a period of such intense UV radiation, since stars tend to form in groups that often include massive, UV-producing stars.

Typically, UV radiation is expected to destroy complex organic molecules, in which case the discovery of CH₃+ might seem to be a surprise. However, the team predicts that UV radiation might actually provide the necessary source of energy for CH₃+ to form in the first place.

Once formed, it then promotes additional chemical reactions to build more complex carbon molecules.

Broadly, the team notes that the molecules they see in d203-506 are quite different from typical protoplanetary disks. In particular, they could not detect any signs of water.

“This clearly shows that ultraviolet radiation can completely change the chemistry of a protoplanetary disk. It might actually play a critical role in the early chemical stages of the origins of life,” elaborated Olivier Berné of the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Toulouse, lead author of the study.

These findings, which are from the PDRs4ALL Early Release Science program, have been published in the journal Nature.

Source: NASA.Gov

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ESA / Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA / Webb) and the PDRs4All ERS Team

The Launch Date for Astrobotic's Moon Lander Is Now Uncertain...

United Launch Alliance

Earlier today, I found out online that United Launch Alliance (ULA) will de-stack the Vulcan Centaur rocket intended for the launch of Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander...and return the Centaur V upper stage back to ULA's rocket factory in Decatur, Alabama, for modifications.

The Vulcan's core stage booster, which recently conducted its Flight Readiness Firing as shown in the image above, will be temporarily stored inside a horizontal processing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida.

ULA revealed the cause of the anomaly that led to the destruction of a Centaur V test article at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, about three months ago. Apparently, the metal skin on Centaur V's liquid hydrogen fuel tank is so thin—which was by design for weight-saving purposes—that gaseous hydrogen (comprised of molecules so small that they can seep through solid surfaces) leaked from the top of the upper stage...causing the explosion which damaged the test article.

ULA plans to reinforce the top of each Centaur V fuel tank—including the flight hardware that is now at CCSFS—due to this flaw. ULA will also select another Centaur V to be used as a structural article at MSFC, to complete the qualification testing for the upper stage motor.

How long it will take to modify and test the Centaur V for Peregrine's Vulcan rocket, and when it will return to Florida, remains to be seen. Will the first flight of Vulcan Centaur even take place before the end of this year?

Stay tuned.


United Launch Alliance


Astrobotic

A Joint European/Japanese Spacecraft Has Another Encounter with the First Rock from the Sun...

ESA / BepiColombo / MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music composed by ILĀ

BepiColombo’s Third Mercury Flyby: The Movie (News Release - June 22)

Watch Mercury appear from the shadows as the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft sped by the planet’s night side during its 19 June 2023 close flyby, and enjoy a special flyover of geologically-rich terrain, along with a bonus 3D scene.

In the first part of the movie, composed of 217 images captured by BepiColombo’s monitoring camera M-CAM 3, the planet’s illuminated side quickly appears in the spacecraft’s field of view, showing off a bounty of geological features on its surface. The planet’s terminator – the divide between day and night – becomes more distinctive from afar, adding to the beauty of the image sequence.

At one point Mercury momentarily appears to hang between the spacecraft’s body and antenna before the spacecraft speeds away.

The image sequence starts from 19:46:25 UTC on 19 June 2023, at an altitude of 1,789 km above the planet’s surface, and ends at 20:34:25 UTC on 20 June 2023, when BepiColombo was 331,755 km away. The image cadence was roughly once per minute around closest approach, but much slower in the later phases.

Fly over Mercury’s Surface

The second part of the movie cuts to a flyover of a special region of interest featuring the 600 km-long curved escarpment known as Beagle Rupes, and the 218 km-wide Manley Crater, newly-named by the International Astronomical Union for the Jamaican artist Edna Manley. Beagle Rupes cuts through an elongated impact crater named Sveinsdóttir.

The flyover begins looking down vertically, with east towards the top of the frame. The viewpoint then swoops down and in to focus on Beagle Rupes and Sveinsdóttir Crater, then looping around so the viewpoint migrates from east to south.

It then tracks south to bring Manley Crater into the centre, with the straight scarp known as Challenger Rupes to its left, before rotating the view to bring north back to the top. At the end, the animated topography fades out and the projected image used for 3D reconstruction appears.

Regions like these will be important for BepiColombo’s main science mission, to learn more about Mercury’s geological history.

The scene has been reconstructed using the ‘shape from shading’ technique. More than 400 years ago, Galileo Galilei noticed that surface regions on Earth’s Moon that tilt away from the Sun appear darker, and those facing the Sun appear brighter.

The shape from shading algorithm builds on this fact. It takes the brightness of BepiColombo’s images of Mercury and infers the surface slope.

With the surface slope, topographic maps can be created. This particular flyover view is based on a coarser digital elevation model from NASA’s MESSENGER and the BepiColombo image.

Shape from shading uses the image to refine the initial topography, uncover small geologic features and predict more accurate slopes. The heights are not to scale.

Music and AI

Music was composed for the sequence by ILĀ, with the assistance of AI tools developed by the Machine Intelligence for Musical Audio (MIMA) group, University of Sheffield. Music from the previous two flyby movies composed by Maison Mercury Jones’ creative director ILĀ (formerly known as Anil Sebastian) and Ingmar Kamalagharan was given to the AI tool to suggest seeds for the new composition, which ILĀ then chose from to edit and weave together with other elements into the new piece.

The team at the University of Sheffield has developed an Artificial Musical Intelligence (AMI), a large-scale general-purpose deep neural network that can be personalised to individual musicians and use cases.

The project with the University of Sheffield is aimed at exploring the boundaries of the ethics of AI creativity, while also emphasising the essential contributions of the (human) composer.

A Bonus 3D Scene

Part of the region covered by the flyover sequence has also been reconstructed as a 3D anaglyph in the image below. Use red-green/blue glasses to best enjoy this view.

The image was taken from a distance of about 2,982 km, 17 minutes after closest approach, and covers an area roughly 1325.5 km x 642 km.

The topography at this site has also been reconstructed using the ‘shape from shading’ technique. The topography is used to generate anaglyphs that give a visual impression of the terrain.

The heights are scaled by a factor of 12.5 to optimize the visual experience in front of a computer or mobile screen.

Source: European Space Agency

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ESA / BepiColombo / MTM, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; processing: K. Wohlfarth and M. Tenthoff (TU Dortmund)

Photos of the Day: Mars in UV...

NASA / LASP / CU Boulder

NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft Stuns with Ultraviolet Views of Red Planet (News Release)

NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission acquired stunning views of Mars in two ultraviolet images taken at different points along our neighboring planet’s orbit around the Sun.

By viewing the planet in ultraviolet wavelengths, scientists can gain insight into the Martian atmosphere and view surface features in remarkable ways.

MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument obtained these global views of Mars in 2022 and 2023 when the planet was near opposite ends of its elliptical orbit.

The IUVS instrument measures wavelengths between 110 and 340 nanometers, outside the visible spectrum. To make these wavelengths visible to the human eye and easier to interpret, the images are rendered with the varying brightness levels of three ultraviolet wavelength ranges represented as red, green and blue.

In this color scheme, atmospheric ozone appears purple, while clouds and hazes appear white or blue. The surface can appear tan or green, depending on how the images have been optimized to increase contrast and show detail.

The first image (shown above) was taken in July 2022 during the southern hemisphere’s summer season, which occurs when Mars passes closest to the Sun. The summer season is caused by the tilt of the planet’s rotational axis, similar to seasons on Earth.

Argyre Basin, one of Mars’ deepest craters, appears at bottom left filled with atmospheric haze (depicted here as pale pink). The deep canyons of Valles Marineris appear at top left filled with clouds (colored tan in this image).

The southern polar ice cap is visible at bottom in white, shrinking from the relative warmth of summer. Southern summer warming and dust storms drive water vapor to very high altitudes, explaining MAVEN’s discovery of enhanced hydrogen loss from Mars at this time of year.

The second image (shown below) is of Mars’ northern hemisphere and was taken in January 2023 after Mars had passed the farthest point in its orbit from the Sun. The rapidly changing seasons in the north polar region cause an abundance of white clouds.

The deep canyons of Valles Marineris can be seen in tan at lower left, along with many craters. Ozone, which appears magenta in this UV view, has built up during the northern winter’s chilly polar nights.

It is then destroyed in northern spring by chemical reactions with water vapor, which is restricted to low altitudes of the atmosphere at this time of year.

MAVEN launched in November 2013 and entered Mars’ orbit in September 2014. The mission’s goal is to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the Sun and solar wind to explore the loss of the Martian atmosphere to space.

Understanding atmospheric loss gives scientists insight into the history of Mars' atmosphere and climate, liquid water and planetary habitability. The MAVEN team is preparing to celebrate the spacecraft’s 10th year at Mars in September 2024.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / LASP / CU Boulder

Another Bombshell Discovery Has Been Made About Saturn's Most Enigmatic Moon...

NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute

NASA Cassini Data Reveals Building Block for Life in Enceladus’ Ocean (News Release - June 14)

Phosphorus, a key chemical element for many biological processes, has been found in icy grains emitted by the small moon and is likely abundant in its subsurface ocean.

Using data collected by NASA’s Cassini mission, an international team of scientists has discovered phosphorus – an essential chemical element for life – locked inside salt-rich ice grains ejected into space from Enceladus.

The small moon is known to possess a subsurface ocean, and water from that ocean erupts through cracks in Enceladus’ icy crust as geysers at its south pole, creating a plume. The plume then feeds Saturn’s E ring (a faint ring outside of the brighter main rings) with icy particles.

During its mission at the gas giant from 2004 to 2017, Cassini flew through the plume and E ring numerous times. Scientists found that Enceladus’ ice grains contain a rich array of minerals and organic compounds – including the ingredients for amino acids – associated with life as we know it.

Phosphorus, the least abundant of the essential elements necessary for biological processes, hadn’t been detected until now. The element is a building block for DNA, which forms chromosomes and carries genetic information, and is present in the bones of mammals, cell membranes and ocean-dwelling plankton.

Phosphorus is also a fundamental part of energy-carrying molecules present in all life on Earth. Life wouldn’t be possible without it.

“We previously found that Enceladus’ ocean is rich in a variety of organic compounds,” said Frank Postberg, a planetary scientist at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, who led the new study, published on Wednesday, June 14, in the journal Nature. “But now, this new result reveals the clear chemical signature of substantial amounts of phosphorus salts inside icy particles ejected into space by the small moon’s plume. It’s the first time this essential element has been discovered in an ocean beyond Earth.”

Previous analysis of Enceladus’ ice grains revealed concentrations of sodium, potassium, chlorine and carbonate-containing compounds, and computer modeling suggested the subsurface ocean is of moderate alkalinity – all factors that favor habitable conditions.

Enceladus and Beyond

For this latest study, the authors accessed the data through NASA’s Planetary Data System, a long-term archive of digital data products returned from the agency’s planetary missions. The archive is actively managed by planetary scientists to help ensure its usefulness and usability by the worldwide planetary science community.

The authors focused on data collected by Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument when it sampled icy particles from Enceladus in Saturn’s E ring. Many more ice particles were analyzed when Cassini flew through the E ring than when it went through just the plume, so the scientists were able to examine a much larger number of compositional signals there.

By doing this, they discovered high concentrations of sodium phosphates – molecules of chemically-bound sodium, oxygen, hydrogen and phosphorus – inside some of those grains.

Co-authors in Europe and Japan then carried out laboratory experiments to show that Enceladus’ ocean has phosphorus, bound inside different water-soluble forms of phosphate, in concentrations of at least 100 times that of our planet’s oceans. Further geochemical modeling by the team demonstrated that an abundance of phosphate may also be possible in other icy ocean worlds in the outer solar system, particularly those that formed from primordial ice containing carbon dioxide, and where liquid water has easy access to rocks.

“High phosphate concentrations are a result of interactions between carbonate-rich liquid water and rocky minerals on Enceladus’ ocean floor and may also occur on a number of other ocean worlds,” said co-investigator Christopher Glein, a planetary scientist and geochemist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “This key ingredient could be abundant enough to potentially support life in Enceladus’ ocean; this is a stunning discovery for astrobiology.”

Although the science team is excited that Enceladus has the building blocks for life, Glein stressed that life has not been found on the moon – or anywhere else in the solar system beyond Earth: “Having the ingredients is necessary, but they may not be sufficient for an extraterrestrial environment to host life. Whether life could have originated in Enceladus’ ocean remains an open question.”

Cassini’s mission came to an end in 2017, with the spacecraft burning up in Saturn’s atmosphere, but the trove of data it collected will continue to be a rich resource for decades to come. When it was launched, Cassini’s mission was to explore Saturn, its rings and moons.

The flagship mission’s array of instruments ended up making discoveries that continue to impact far more than planetary science.

“This latest discovery of phosphorus in Enceladus’ subsurface ocean has set the stage for what the habitability potential might be for the other icy ocean worlds throughout the solar system,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who was not involved in the study. “Now that we know so many of the ingredients for life are out there, the question becomes: Is there life beyond Earth, perhaps in our own solar system? I feel that Cassini’s enduring legacy will inspire future missions that might, eventually, answer that very question.”

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute

On This Day in 1998: MJ Ends His NBA Career in Style...

It was 25 years ago today that the Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz, 87-86, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

Michael Jordan was tightly guarded by the Jazz's Bryon Russell (who's an alumnus at Cal State Long Beach, just like me) in the final seconds of the 4th quarter...but still managed to make the shot that would give him and the Bulls a sixth NBA championship. And in Jordan's case, the last one of his pro-basketball career.

I wanted the Bulls to win this title, seeing as how the Utah Jazz—much like what the Denver Nuggets did to LeBron James, Anthony Davis and their squad last month—swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals that year. MJ avenged Shaq, Kobe, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and company without realizing it...or definitely not caring about this, heh.

Michael Jordan ending his NBA career in a blaze of glory was one of the many highlights from my first week or so of being a high school alumnus. (Ignore MJ's stint with the Washington Wizards a few years later.) And there would be many more to come during the summer of 1998—before I began my college career at CSULB.

Happy Hump Day!

The Mile High City of Champions...

NBA

A few weeks after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers (who soundly defeated the defending champs Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals), the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat in the Finals, 4-1, and are now the NBA champions.

What I want to know is— Is this the beginning of a Denver dynasty? Or will the Nuggets be a one-and-down team like the 2011 Dallas Mavericks and the 2019 Toronto Raptors?

The Milwaukee Bucks, who prevailed over the Phoenix Suns and won the title in 2021, can win again...what with Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks' NBA Finals MVP, still on this team's roster. We'll see what happens next year.

Have fun entering the 2023-'24 NBA season with a target on your back, Nikola Jokić and company! Happy Monday.


NBA

A Flashback to My First-Ever Job...

It was 20 years ago this month that I began training at the very first company that I worked for...Disneyland!

The photo above was taken by my high school friend Sarina (who convinced me to apply for a job at the Happiest Place on Earth) while two of my instructors were addressing me and other trainees on the various aspects of our job position—which was as Cast Members working for the Resort Transportation and Parking (RTP) Department.

When you go to Disneyland and hop on one of its trams, the person standing at the very back of the vehicle saying "Please remain seated. Sit well back in your seat. Driver, all clear" on the loudspeaker before the tram begins rolling is an RTP officer. That's what I did!

Anyways, I actually worked at Disneyland for only six months...and that's because I wanted to focus on completing my senior thesis film Envious at my college, Cal State Long Beach. The reason why I applied for a job at the Magic Kingdom in the first place was to earn money for my senior thesis film before the Fall 2003 semester at CSULB started.

To read the dramatic story about the making of Envious and why it prompted me to depart from my first-ever job, click here.

And yes, I still have my RTP uniform. Happy Sunday!

On This Day in 2003: Spirit Heads to Mars...

NASA

It was 20 years ago today that a Delta 2 rocket carrying the first of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), Spirit, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

It took Spirit almost seven months to reach the Red Planet...with the golf cart-sized rover successfully touching down at Gusev Crater on January 3, 2004.

Spirit lasted for over 6 years on Mars. Its mission spanned 2,269 days—from landing to last radio contact after the rover became stuck in soft sand at Gusev—before NASA finally pulled the plug on this exciting endeavor.

Fortunately, Spirit's twin robot Opportunity lived on to continue the legacy of the MERs on the surface of the Red Planet. Until 2019, that is.

Peregrine's Launch Vehicle Has Roared to Life for the First Time!

United Launch Alliance

A few hours ago, at 9:05 PM, EDT (6:05 PM, PDT), the twin methalox-fueled BE-4 engines on United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket came to life at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 in Florida.

The two engines, provided by Blue Origin, ignited for the Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) that is the final major step before Vulcan is ready to lift off and send Astrobotic's Peregrine lander to the Moon. The FRF lasted for about six seconds...with engine start-up beginning 4.88 seconds prior to ignition, and the BE-4s reaching full power for two seconds before shutting down.

With a successful FRF now out of the way, ULA is in position to roll Vulcan back into SLC-41's Vertical Integration Facility to be outfitted with its twin solid rocket boosters, and wait for the arrival of Peregrine and other payloads that will ride on Vulcan into space.

However, ULA is still investigating the Centaur V anomaly that occurred at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, about three months ago. The Vulcan Centaur rocket now at SLC-41 looks ready to launch, but won't do so until ULA is confident that the mishap which occurred at MSFC won't have a negative bearing on Vulcan's inaugural mission.

Stay tuned!


United Launch Alliance


United Launch Alliance


United Launch Alliance

‍🔥‍ Let's relive that beautiful #VulcanRocket Flight Readiness Firing! #CountdowntoVulcan 🔥‍ pic.twitter.com/WqPe3jbpiW

— ULA (@ulalaunch) June 8, 2023

America's Next Asteroid Explorer Is on Schedule to Fly This October...

NASA / JPL - Caltech / ASU

Review Board: NASA-JPL Psyche Progress Outstanding, Launch on Track (Press Release - June 5)

Steps taken by NASA, the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, and Caltech, to put the Psyche mission on track for an October 2023 launch have been outstanding, according to an independently-appointed review board. NASA and JPL convened the board last summer after the Psyche mission team requested to delay the spacecraft’s August 2022 launch to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name.

In its November 2022 report, the independent review board made extensive recommendations to address both project and JPL institutional issues that contributed to the launch delay. After thorough follow-up reviews with the Psyche project, JPL and Caltech, the board’s May 30 report finds the actions taken since November exceeded expectations.

Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

“I am pleased with the independent review board’s resoundingly positive assessment of JPL’s hard work in correcting the issues outlined in the board’s original report,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “We know the work is not over. As we move forward, we will work with JPL to ensure these implemented changes continue to be prioritized to position Psyche and the other missions in JPL’s portfolio for success.”

Led by retired aerospace executive A. Thomas Young, the Psyche independent review board concluded in its initial report that while JPL workforce issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the launch delay, additional factors, ranging from staffing to communication to management oversight, contributed as well.

In response to the review board’s recommendations, JPL moved to directly address the concerns regarding the Psyche project as well as the laboratory as an institution. The Psyche mission added experienced team members, reorganized a large part of its workforce, and adopted comprehensive metrics to monitor progress towards launch and operational readiness.

The report also noted improvements to senior management’s oversight of the mission.

“The independent review board is extraordinarily impressed by the accomplishments of the total JPL organization and Caltech,” the report authors noted. “Engagement in and leadership of the overall response process by the JPL director and senior leadership is deemed ‘world class.'"

Institutionally, JPL moved rapidly to update its hybrid work policy to increase the number of days team members spend together onsite each week to improve collaboration and communication. The laboratory, according to the report, was also “exceptional” in its efforts to attract and retain experienced engineering staff, with the Psyche mission being among the beneficiaries.

In addition, JPL leadership focused on clarifying roles, responsibilities and technical skillsets within its engineering organization while ensuring flight project team members were aware of pathways to raise concerns. Lessons learned from the Psyche mission are also applicable to other flight projects, including Europa Clipper and Mars Sample Return.

JPL also revamped monthly project status reviews to ensure risks are well understood at all levels of the organization.

“We convened this board weeks after I stepped in as director and addressing the issues it raised has been a central focus in my first year as director of JPL. The results are gratifying,” said JPL Director Laurie Leshin. “Our goals went beyond getting Psyche to the launch pad to improving JPL across the board as we work on missions that will help us better understand Earth, explore the solar system and the universe, and search for signs of life. Our strong response to the board’s findings reinforces the notion that JPL can solve any problem with the right focus and attention."

The board also determined in its report NASA and its management centers need to more clearly define the responsibilities of its standing review boards, which help ensure appropriate program and project management oversight to increase the likelihood of mission success.

The spacecraft will reach asteroid Psyche in August 2029, orbiting it for 26 months to gain insights into planetary formation, better understand the interior of terrestrial planets like Earth, and examine a world that is made largely of metal.

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NASA / JPL - Caltech

It's Been a Quarter Century Since I Completed High School...

So today marks 25 years since I graduated from Bishop Amat Memorial High School!

The Class of '98 panorama above was actually taken two days before, followed by such exciting events as the Senior Paper Toss and Senior Luau on campus, and then Grad Nite at Disneyland before the big day.

I took a nap at home the morning after Grad Nite...before I suited up and headed back to Amat for my commencement ceremony. The summer that ensued before I began my college career at Cal State Long Beach was a memorable one...with me watching such memorable flicks as The Truman Show, Can't Hardly Wait, Armageddon (yes, Armageddon) and Saving Private Ryan at the theater, and hanging out with my high school friends before we began parting ways later that year.

One of my high school classmates pondered on Facebook a few years back about having a 25-year reunion this year, but I don't think it's gonna happen. But the 30-year reunion is only five years away, and I definitely can't wait for that one!

Happy Monday.

Send Your Name to Jupiter Next Year!

NASA

NASA Invites Public to Sign Poem That Will Fly Aboard Europa Clipper (News Release - June 1)

Stenciled onto microchips, the names will join a poem written for the mission by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.

Members of the public are invited to add their names to an original poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission before the spacecraft begins its journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa in October 2024. The poem and the names will be like a message in a bottle, traveling billions of miles as the mission investigates whether the ocean thought to lie beneath Europa’s icy crust could support life.

As part of the “Message in a Bottle” campaign, names received before 11:59 p.m. EST, December 31, 2023, will be stenciled onto a microchip, along with the poem, written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón and titled In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.

To sign, read the poem, and hear Limón recite the poem in an animated video, go to:

https://go.nasa.gov/MessageInABottle

The site also enables participants to create and download a customizable souvenir – an illustration of your name on a message in a bottle against a rendering of Europa and Jupiter – to commemorate the experience. Participants are encouraged to share their enthusiasm on social media using the hashtag #SendYourName.

“‘Message in a Bottle’ is the perfect convergence of science, art and technology, and we are excited to share with the world the opportunity to be a part of Europa Clipper’s journey,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “I just love the thought that our names will be traveling across our solar system aboard the radiation-tolerant spacecraft that seeks to unlock the secrets of Jupiter’s frozen moon.”

The “Message in a Bottle” campaign is similar to other NASA projects that have enabled tens of millions of people to send their names to ride along with Artemis I and several Mars spacecraft. It draws from the agency’s long tradition of shipping inspirational messages on spacecraft that have explored our solar system and beyond.

In the vein of NASA’s Voyagers’ Golden Record, which sent a time capsule of sounds and images to communicate the diversity of life and culture on Earth, the program aims to spark the imagination of people around the world.

“Inspiration is what fueled the people who developed this flagship mission and who hand-crafted the largest spacecraft NASA has sent to explore the solar system. It’s what drives humanity to ask the big questions that this mission will contribute to,” said Laurie Leshin, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads the development of Europa Clipper. “Inspiration is riding along with every single name that will be making the journey to Europa.”

Europa Clipper is currently being assembled, on camera, at JPL. Set to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to reach the Jupiter system, where it will arrive in 2030.

As it orbits Jupiter and flies by Europa about 50 times, Europa Clipper will log another half-billion miles (800,000 kilometers) while a suite of science instruments gathers data on the subsurface ocean, the ice crust and the moon’s atmosphere.

In January, Limón visited JPL to see the spacecraft and learn more about the mission. She was appointed 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in 2022 and reappointed for a second, two-year term in April 2023.

Limón was born in Sonoma, California, and is of Mexican ancestry. She is the author of several poetry collections, including The Hurting Kind and The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

The Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center is the home of the nation’s official poet, the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry – a position that has existed since 1937. The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States – and extensive materials from around the world – both on site and online.

It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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The Latest Update on NASA's Robotic Rover for the Artemis Program...

NASA / Arno Rogg

Engineers Test VIPER’s Very Nimble Gimbal (News Release)

As VIPER, NASA’s next Moon rover, wheels about atop Mons Mouton – a large flat-topped mountain on the Moon’s South Pole – one small but mighty piece of hardware will be critical for the team of rover drivers and scientists to send it commands, know where it is going, and receive valuable science data: a gimbal-pointed high-gain antenna.

VIPER has both a low-gain and high-gain antenna to transmit data to and receive data from the Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas on Earth. Its low-gain antenna sends radio waves at a low data rate, while its high-gain antenna transfers much more information (over 100 times more).

Data is then transferred from the DSN to the Multi-Mission Operations and Control Center at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where rover operations are based.

“Pointing VIPER’s high-gain antenna in the correct orientation is one of the most critical functions the rover has,” said Arno Rogg, rover systems engineer at Ames. “Without its antenna, the rover cannot receive commands while in motion on the Moon and cannot transmit any of its data back to Earth for scientists to achieve their mission goals.”

Why it Matters

VIPER is designed to use distributed computing, which allows engineers to download images and other data from the rover for fast processing, rather than having to rely only on the rover’s slower on-board computing.

“This opens up a process for off-planet science operations that enables us to be super-responsive to the situation on the Moon as it is revealed,” said Dr. Zara Mirmalek, VIPER deputy science operations and integration lead at Ames. “The science team can react in near real-time and influence where the rover moves to meet the mission’s science objectives.”

In order to transmit large amounts of data across the 240,000 miles that separate Earth and the Moon, VIPER will be equipped with an antenna that can send information along a very focused, narrow beam. With the exception of planned stops to take panoramas of its lunar surroundings, to use its drill, wait out occasional communication blackouts or periods of shadow at safe havens, VIPER will constantly be on the move.

The rover will spend most of its time driving and using its suite of spectrometers and cameras to map the location and concentration of lunar water and other volatiles at the surface of areas of scientific interest –– which means it is essential for the rover to be able to constantly and precisely point its antenna while it moves.

“The rover is equipped with different sensors that work together and allow it to know where to point and tell the gimbal to adjust the antenna’s direction as many as 10 times every second, even while the rover might be bouncing over boulders and crater slopes,” said Rogg. “But knowing where to point is extremely complex.”

VIPER uses its onboard computer and a few different sensors to accurately and very frequently calculate its position on the Moon. One sensor is its star tracker – a sensitive camera that takes pictures of the star field above VIPER.

By comparing the pictures to its built-in map of stars, the star tracker can determine which way VIPER is oriented. VIPER also uses a set of gyroscopes to track how quickly the rover is turning.

Using the combined data, the rover commands the gimbal to make fine adjustments to compensate for the rover’s motion in order to keep the antenna always pointed at the Earth.

Flipping the Problem Around

But engineers were faced with a problem: How can such a system be tested on Earth? Their solution? Flip the problem around – and drive a prototype rover in California with an antenna pointed at the Moon.

They recently completed the nighttime tests at the Roverscape at Ames using the latest prototype of the rover, known as Moon Gravitation Representative Unit 3 (MGRU3), and found both antenna and gimbal performed well.

“We found that the Moon stayed dead center even while the prototype performed a sprint drive over the largest rock in our Roverscape, which is one of the most challenging cases,” said Terry Fong, deputy manager of the VIPER rover. “We’re now even more confident the system will work on the Moon.”

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA Ames / Daniel Rutter