NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA & TRAPPIST-1: A Treasure Trove of Planets Found
updated
The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, a technology demonstration that launched aboard NASA’s Psyche mission in October 2023, has successfully tested high-bandwidth laser communications for the first time beyond the Moon and recently achieved another milestone by transmitting data from Mars orbit.
With data rates 10-100x higher than radio frequencies, laser communications could support robotic spacecraft throughout our solar system and even future astronauts exploring Mars. Join us live for a discussion on these milestones and what’s ahead for the second year of the experiment’s two-year test. Hear from Dr. Angel E. Velasco and Dr. Joe Kovalik, members of the DSOC team, who will share the latest achievements and what the daily operations are like for this technology demonstration.
Speakers:
Dr. Angel E. Velasco, DSOC ground laser transmitter lead, optical communications engineer
Dr. Joseph Kovalik, DSOC flight integration & test lead, optical communications engineer
Host:
Nikki Wyrick, communications and education directorate, NASA JPL
Co-host:
Dr. Ian O’Neill , media relations specialist, NASA JPL
(Original air date: Oct. 17, 2024)
Europa Clipper is NASA’s first mission dedicated to studying Europa, which likely has a salty ocean beneath its icy surface. The spacecraft is equipped with nine science instruments and a gravity experiment. The mission’s main goal is to determine whether Europa has the right conditions to support life.
Europa Clipper will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 and make 49 flybys of Europa during its prime mission, which concludes in 2034.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The study centers on a sodium cloud near WASP-49 b that was discovered in 2017, and which shares characteristics with the gas emissions seen around Io. The scientists tracked the cloud’s motion and the data strongly indicates the presence of a separate orbiting body — an exomoon — as the source.
Further observations are needed to confirm the existence of this potential exomoon. If WASP-49 b indeed hosts a moon similar in size to that of Earth, the exomoon may face a violent fate: Gravitational forces from the exoplanet could eventually cause it to disintegrate.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A potentially bright comet (C/2023 A3) to look for after mid-month, good opportunities to spy the ocean world NASA's launching to, and the monthly dance of four planets with the Moon.
0:00 Intro
0:21 October planet visibility
0:59 Viewing Europa
2:10 Moon & planet pairings
2:38 Comet C/2023 A3
3:58 September photo highlights
4:12 October Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.
From Callisto and Ganymede to Enceladus, what could future exploration of these watery worlds look like?
Join us for a live talk where we’ll discuss the scientific allure of ocean worlds, how we might investigate the surface of these celestial bodies, and learn about robotic technologies being developed at JPL that could someday penetrate a frozen world’s icy shell to explore a vast ocean hidden beneath.
Speakers:
Dr. Cynthia Phillips, planetary geologist and Europa Clipper project staff scientist at NASA JPL
Dr. Benjamin Hockman, robotics technologist at NASA JPL
Host:
Gregory Smith, communications and education directorate at NASA JPL
Co-host:
Laurance Fauconnet, solar system public engagement lead at NASA JPL
(Original Air Date: Sept. 19, 2024)
#EuropaClipper #Europa #Jupiter #SolarSystem #FashionWeek #ExperimentalMakeUp #NailInspo #makeup #NailArt #InstaFashion #SpaceFashion #beauty #NASA #JPL
Targeting an Oct. 10 launch, Europa Clipper aims to determine whether Jupiter’s moon Europa potentially has the ingredients necessary for life.
Participants in the news conference include:
- Gina DiBraccio, acting director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters
- Jordan Evans, project manager, Europa Clipper, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Armando Piloto, senior mission manager, NASA’s Launch Services Program
- Stuart Hill, propulsion module delivery manager, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
- Bonnie Buratti, deputy project scientist, Europa Clipper, JPL
For more information on the mission, go to: europa.nasa.gov
Europa Clipper is equipped with nine instruments and a gravity experiment. It will orbit Jupiter and make 49 flybys of Europa, gathering data to help scientists understand the moon’s geology, composition, and interior. While not a life-detection mission, Europa Clipper will answer key questions about the moon’s potential habitability.
Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and arrive at Jupiter in 2030.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC/APL
Curiosity landed in 2012 to look for evidence that Mars’ Gale Crater had the conditions to support microbial life in the ancient past. Curiosity has confirmed those conditions existed on the crater floor as well as on various parts of Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain within the crater that the rover has been ascending since 2014.
For more about Curiosity, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona/UC Berkeley
Each of the five episodes will take you behind the scenes with an engineer on the mission: Jenny Kampmeier, Sarah Elizabeth McCandless, Valeria Salazar, Dipak Srinivasan, and Andres Rivera. Their roles range from navigating to communicating with the spacecraft. Learn how these engineers came to join the mission and how they hope to inspire future generations.
Europa Clipper is set to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will arrive at Jupiter in 2030. The mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, with key spacecraft infrastructure contributions from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
For more information on the mission, visit: europa.nasa.gov
For the series playlist, visit: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTiv_XWHnOZqkhPC1tfhVqnM1SvIgdn6z
Credit: NASA
Produced by: NASA 360 Productions
The practice of planetary protection involves carefully controlling any exposure other solar system bodies have to Earth life. To minimize the possible introduction of microbes from Earth to Europa, numerous samples have been collected from the Europa Clipper throughout its construction. These samples are tested to ensure compliance with planetary protection protocols.
In this episode, Akemi Hinzer from the Planetary Protection Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory walks through the team’s meticulous process.
Spacecraft Makers is a video series that takes audiences behind the scenes to learn more about how space missions, like Europa Clipper, come together.
Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and arrive in the Jupiter system in 2030.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Five planets each make appearances, the Harvest supermoon shows us a partial eclipse, then slices through the Pleiades. Plus International Observe the Moon Night and solar sail sightings!
0:00 Intro
0:18 Sept. planets visibility
1:06 Moon & planet highlights
2:58 Solar sail visibility
3:38 International Observe the Moon Night
4:34 August photo highlights
4:48 September Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up/.
Located in Southern California, JPL is NASA’s leader in robotic exploration. We’ve sent rovers to Mars, probes into the farthest reaches of the solar system, and satellites to advance understanding of our home planet.
Founded in 1936 as a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL built and helped launch America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. By the end of that year, Congress established NASA, and JPL became a part of the agency. Since then, JPL has continued to push the boundaries of what's possible, pioneering groundbreaking missions that expand our knowledge of the cosmos and inspire the next generation of explorers.
We dare mighty things, together. Learn more about our lab: jpl.nasa.gov
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The IceNode team took a prototype robot for a test under Arctic sea ice in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, in March 2024.
#Robotics #Earth #JPL #science #ClimateChange
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
With the arrays deployed, the spacecraft spans more than 100 feet (30.5 meters), which is nearly the distance from the Statue of Liberty’s toes to her head. The arrays will help the spacecraft make its 1.8 billion-mile (2.6 billion-kilometer) journey to Jupiter and power science instruments, electronics, heaters, and other subsystems during the years orbiting Jupiter and flying by the moon Europa. They also support six antennas that stick out perpendicularly from the panels. These antennas are for the REASON (Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-surface) instrument, which will probe for water within and beneath Europa’s ice.
Both wings were installed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in collaboration with the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Airbus Netherlands. The solar arrays are so large only one can be installed and tested at a time. Both will be folded and stowed for launch, then will fully deploy in space.
Scientists believe the moon Europa has an ocean under its icy crust that may have conditions suitable for supporting life. Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from Kennedy Space Center and arrive in the Jovian system in 2030.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC/APL/Airbus
Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is an infrared space telescope being built to help advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts — the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth.
You are viewing activities in the High Bay 1 clean room at JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Over the coming weeks, the large panels, cabling, and other components for NEO Surveyor’s instrument enclosure will take shape. In the center of the clean room is a platform, called the Medium Articulating Assembly Dolly (MAAD), which is designed to support the instrument enclosure, where components will be assembled and mounted. The enclosure is a key part of the spacecraft, housing NEO Surveyor’s powerful telescope and infrared instrumentation. When completed and tested, the enclosure will be mounted to the back of the spacecraft’s large sunshield and avionics for the mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2027.
The telescope, which is being built in another clean room at JPL, has an aperture of nearly 20 inches (50 centimeters) — larger than NASA’s previous asteroid-hunting space telescope, NEOWISE — and it will collect infrared light from some of the most difficult-to-find near-Earth objects in the solar system. Additional construction and testing will take place at JPL and partner institutions across the United States.
For more about the mission, science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor
To learn more about the spacecraft’s assembly, visit science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor
While the rover has previously detected sulfur-based minerals, this rock is made of pure, elemental sulfur.
Join us for a live conversation with Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist, to discuss the significance of the finding as well as other notable discoveries from the mountain-climbing Mars explorer’s 12th year on the Red Planet.
Speaker:
Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, project scientist for the Curiosity rover, NASA JPL
Host:
Nikki Wyrick, office of communications and education, NASA JPL
Co-host:
Sarah Marcotte, Mars public engagement specialist, NASA JPL
(Original Air Date: Aug. 15, 2024)
Quantum science has revolutionized our understanding of the physical world and led to new technologies including cellphones, computers, medical devices, and GPS. However, Earth’s gravity poses challenges for studying the quantum behaviors of atoms.
To overcome those challenges, Cold Atom Lab operates in microgravity. Using lasers and magnetic fields, scientists run the lab remotely from Earth, cooling groups of atoms to temperatures colder than any naturally occurring matter in the universe. Cold atoms, nearly motionless, reveal their behaviors more clearly. The absence of Earth’s gravity allows for prolonged atom study, opening new avenues in quantum exploration.
For more information, visit http://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Launched in 2009 as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), the space telescope completed its primary mission to conduct an all-sky survey in the infrared spectrum. The spacecraft was put into hibernation in 2011, then re-awakened in 2013 for a second career as NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer).
NEOWISE is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and safely burn up in late 2024.
For more information on NEOWISE, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/neowise
For NEOWISE data, visit: https://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/UCLA; comet NEOWISE image: NASA/Bill Dunford
Originally launched in 2009 as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), the telescope completed its primary mission to conduct an all-sky survey in the infrared spectrum. The spacecraft detected asteroids, stars, and some of the faintest galaxies in space, and then was put into hibernation in 2011. NASA re-awakened it in 2013, launching its second career and giving rise to its modified name, NEOWISE. On Aug. 8, 2024, mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will send a command to once again put the spacecraft into hibernation before its re-entry, expected in late 2024 or early 2025.
For more information on the NEOWISE mission, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/neowise
For NEOWISE data, visit: neowise.ipac.caltech.edu
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech; WISE-NEOWISE movies compiled by Dan Caselden; WISE imagery: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA; Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/Judy Schmidt; 10 years of NEOWISE data animation: IPAC/Caltech/University of Arizona; select asteroid animations from NASA Eyes on Asteroids; asteroid 2014 HQ124 radar imagery: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arecibo Observatory/USRA/NSF; Orion Nebula: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech; International Space Station footage: NASA Johnson Space Center; comet NEOWISE images: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Lab/Parker Solar Probe/Brendan Gallagher, and NASA/Bill Dunford
Mars and Jupiter have a super close meetup, the conditions look good for the Perseid meteors, and how to observe a stellar nursery – the Lagoon Nebula.
0:00 Intro
0:14 Moon & planet highlights
1:14 Perseid meteor shower peaks
1:51 Observing the Lagoon Nebula (M8)
3:59 August Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.
— Additional Resources —
Hubble's view of the Lagoon Nebula: science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/science/explore-the-night-sky/hubble-messier-catalog/messier-8
Find events & clubs: NASA's Night Sky Network: science.nasa.gov/skywatching/night-sky-network
Skywatching resources from NASA: science.nasa.gov/skywatching
Morgan Cable, a scientist on the Perseverance team, takes a closer look.
#Mars #PerseveranceRover #astrobiology #SearchForLife #science #NASA #JPL
The solar-powered rovers will test novel, JPL-developed autonomy software, using it to elect a “leader,” make decisions, and carry out tasks assigned by the leader — all without the need for constant direction from human mission controllers. They will use mesh network radios to communicate with each other and their base station, which will remain aboard a commercial lunar lander that will relay data to Earth.
CADRE also will show how teams of robots can collaborate to take simultaneous scientific measurements from different locations, gathering data that would be impossible for a single robot to record. The tech demo could pave the way for autonomous, multi-robot missions that change how celestial bodies are explored.
Join us as we discuss the amazing potential of CADRE with project manager, Subha Comandur, and principal investigator, Dr. Jean-Pierre de la Croix.
Speakers:
Subha Comandur, CADRE project manager, NASA JPL
Dr. Jean-Pierre de la Croix, CADRE principal investigator, NASA JPL
Host:
Nikki Wyrick, communications and education directorate, NASA JPL
Co-host:
Sandy Marshall, solar system public engagement specialist, NASA JPL
(Original Air Date: July 18, 2024)
You’ll also see Curiosity’s robotic arm, which is raised after drilling its 41st hole at a location nicknamed “Mammoth Lakes.” The sample collected by Curiosity was dropped into instruments in its belly, and will help scientists understand how this area formed.
The rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to take this panorama on June 19, 2024, the 4,220th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. It’s made up of 336 individual images that were stitched together. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth.
Note on best viewing: Not all browsers support 360-degree videos. YouTube supports playback on computers using Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge, and Opera browsers. For the best experience on a mobile device, play this video in the YouTube app. To improve the resolution, open the video settings (using the gear icon) and select the highest quality available.
For more about Curiosity, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Plus, learn how the rover is equipped to determine when rocks are formed, and get a preview of where it will journey next.
NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021, with a key objective to collect and cache samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life.
For more information on Perseverance, visit science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
The Moon and planets come together twice in the morning sky – at the start and end of July, find the elusive planet Uranus with some help from Mars, and two star clusters – M6 and M7 – are well placed for viewing in the evening.
0:00 Intro
0:14 Moon and planet pairings
1:40 Mars and Uranus
2:14 Star Clusters in Scorpius
4:24 July Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.
— Additional Resources —
- Find events & clubs: NASA's Night Sky Network: science.nasa.gov/skywatching/night-sky-network
- Skywatching resources from NASA: science.nasa.gov/skywatching
The cell phone camera is one of many “spinoffs,” or commercialized products that incorporate NASA technology or expertise that benefit the general public. Spinoffs have been part of our lives for decades: improved GPS, assistive eyesight technology, advanced dental imaging, and even sophisticated video game landscapes were all originally developed at JPL to study Earth and the universe.
Join us for a live talk as we explore how space-based technology becomes a spinoff, including a deep dive on the NASA-designed and -built instrument at the heart of the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first two satellites. Called Tanager-1 and Tanager-2, the satellites will pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide sources in communities around the world from low-Earth orbit.
Host:
Gregory Smith, Office of Communications and Education, NASA JPL
Co-Host:
Rachel Zimmerman Brachman, Public Outreach Specialist, NASA JPL
Speakers:
Daniel Broderick, Manager of the Office of Technology Transfer at JPL
Dr. Andrew Thorpe, Research Technologist, NASA JPL
Original Air Date: June 20, 2024
In this sonification, X-ray wavelengths from NuSTAR (represented as different colors) are mapped to different musical pitches and sounds. Red, yellow, purple, blue, and white are mapped to notes from low to high. For Chandra, brightness in the X-ray data corresponds with pitch and volume, and a bell sound indicates the position of the pulsar at the center of the nebula.
The Crab Nebula is what remains of a star that exploded as a supernova. The explosion that created the Crab Nebula was visible from Earth in the year 1054, when it was recorded by Chinese astronomers. Most of the star’s mass was pushed into space, creating a wide debris field that continues to expand.
The rest of the stellar material collapsed into a dense object called a pulsar. The pulsar’s rapid rotation and strong magnetic field accelerate particles and shoot them into space.The particles emit high-energy X-rays that NuSTAR can detect, but as they travel outward, they collide with the debris scattered by the supernova, causing them to slow down and lose their energy. This is why NuSTAR only sees light from a relatively small region close to the pulsar. Lower energy X-rays detected by Chandra can be seen farther out.
For more information on the NuStar go to: nustar.caltech.edu
For more information on the Chandra Space Telescope go to: channasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CXC/SAO
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which — with its subsurface ocean — is one of the most promising places in our solar system to find environments capable of supporting life.
The spacecraft is expected to launch in October 2024 from Kennedy and arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC
In addition to his work on Voyager, Stone was the director of JPL from 1991 to 2001. Under his leadership, JPL was responsible for 21 missions and instruments and developed six new missions. Highlights during Stone’s tenure included landing NASA’s Pathfinder mission with the first Mars rover, Sojourner, in 1996 and launching the NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) Cassini/Huygens mission in 1997. The first Saturn orbiter, Cassini was a direct outgrowth of the scientific questions that arose from Voyager’s two flybys, and it carried the only probe that has ever landed in the outer solar system (at Titan). Full release: jpl.nasa.gov/news/ed-stone-former-director-of-jpl-and-voyager-project-scientist-dies
Saturn and Mars continue to dominate the a.m. sky, but they're joined by Jupiter as the month goes on. And some tips for identifying some commonly seen objects in the night sky.
0:00 Intro
0:14 Moon & planet highlights
1:03 Identifying common objects
4:14 June Moon phases
"Planet Parade" note: Some online sources have shared excitement about a "parade of planets" visible in the morning sky in early June. In reality, only two of the six planets supposedly on display will actually be visible. Jupiter and Mercury will be at or below the horizon in morning twilight and not visible; Uranus and Neptune are far too faint to see without a telescope, especially as the morning sky brightens. The real planet parade will be June 29, when Saturn, the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter will line up across the morning sky. We'll talk more about that lineup in the July "What's Up" video.
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.
The technology demonstration will test new tools to see planets beyond our solar system. It will soon be integrated with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2027.
#RomanTelescope #RomanSpaceTelescope #coronagraph #space #science #exoplanet #NASA #Goddard #JPL #HiBarbie
The Roman Coronagraph, the most powerful coronagraph ever flown in space, will block the light from host stars, allowing scientists to directly observe exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system.
The coronagraph is a technology demonstration that will show how this cutting-edge technology can work in space. These types of technologies will be necessary for future missions like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept.
For more information about the Roman Coronagraph Instrument, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/coronagraph
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC
Earth absorbs much of the Sun’s energy at the tropics. Weather and ocean currents then move that heat toward the poles, which help regulate Earth’s climate by radiating that heat back into space. But the Arctic is warming about three times faster than anywhere else on Earth, and that’s leading to increased ice sheet melt and sea level rise in coastal communities. The data from PREFIRE will help scientists better understand how Earth’s polar regions respond to climate change and what that might mean for the future.
For more information: science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wisconsin
From rocket vibrations, to the temperatures and pressures of space and other planets, to the solar illumination of the Sun, the Environmental Test Lab (ETL) at JPL is responsible for simulating these conditions and verifying, through a series of rigorous tests, that spacecraft will be able to fulfill their missions unharmed.
Join us for a live chat with two ETL experts who will teach us more about the equipment, the people behind environmental testing, and how they literally “shake and bake” spacecraft.
Speakers:
Brad Kinter, Group Supervisor, Environmental Thermal Testing, NASA JPL
Pete Landry, Systems Integration and Test Engineer, Environmental Dynamics Test & Instrumentation Group, NASA JPL
Host:
Marc Razze, office of communications and education, NASA JPL
Co-host:
Laurance Fauconnet, solar system public engagement specialist, NASA JPL
Original Air Date: May 16, 2024
While Europa Clipper isn’t a life-detection mission, it will be the first to conduct a detailed survey of this icy moon to answer questions about Europa’s potential habitability and composition. The mission’s main goals are to determine the thickness of Europa’s icy shell; confirm the presence of an ocean; investigate the make-up of that ocean; and characterize the geology of the surface. The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter and make approximately 50 flybys of Europa. It’s equipped with a powerful suite of instruments that will work in sync to gather measurements and high-resolution images.
Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will arrive at the Jupiter system in 2030.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/APL
In this video, Tony Licari - a mechanical systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California - shows how the team moved the main body of the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission into JPL's historic 85-foot-tall, 25-foot-wide (26-meter-by-8-meter) thermal vacuum chamber.Inside the chamber, the team simulated the kinds of conditions the spacecraft will experience while flying through space, and practiced deploying instruments. Europa Clipper successfully completed those tests in March 2024.
Spacecraft Makers is a video series that takes audiences behind the scenes to learn more about how space missions, like Europa Clipper, come together. Europa Clipper will explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to see if there are conditions suitable for life. The spacecraft needs to be hardy enough to survive a 1.6 billion-mile, six-year journey to Jupiter, and sophisticated enough to perform a detailed science investigation of Europa once it arrives at the Jupiter system in 2030.
Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
For more information about CADRE, visit: go.nasa.gov/cadre
For more information about internship opportunities, visit: jpl.nasa.gov/intern
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
See instruments that will help us investigate whether Europa could be a habitable environment by gathering measurements of its internal ocean, mapping the moon's surface composition and geology, and hunting for plumes of water vapor that may be venting from the icy crust.
#NASA #JPL #Europa #GoEuropaClipper #Jupiter #Moon #Spacecraft
Mars and Saturn tussle with the Moon, Mercury makes a brief a.m. appearance, East Coasters can see red giant star Antares emerge from behind the Moon, and the eta Aquariid meteors peak on May 6th.
0:00 Intro
0:15 Moon & planet highlights
1:06 Moon occults Antares
1:53 eta Aquariid meteor shower
3:54 May Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.
Solar maximum occurs roughly every 11 years. During this period, the Sun is especially prone to throwing fiery tantrums in a variety of forms, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These events launch radiation deep into space. When a series of these solar events erupt, it’s called a solar storm.
Earth’s magnetic field largely shields our home planet from the effects of these storms. But Mars lost its global magnetic field long ago, leaving the Red Planet more vulnerable to the Sun’s energetic particles. Researchers are excited to potentially gather data on just how intense solar activity can get at Mars. Among the preparations space agencies will need to make for sending humans to the Red Planet is what kind of radiation protection astronauts would require.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN mission.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California leads the Curiosity mission.
Learn more: go.nasa.gov/3UNS6g1
For more information on MAVEN, go to: science.nasa.gov/mission/maven
For more information on Curiosity, go to: science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/Scientific Visualization Studio/SDO/LASP-University of Colorado Boulder/MSSS
Designed to be a technology demonstration that would make no more than five test flights in 30 days, Ingenuity eventually flew more than 14 times farther than the distance expected, and logged more than two hours of total flight time. It flew for the final time on Jan. 18, 2024.
For more information on Ingenuity, visit: go.nasa.gov/ingenuity.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
SWOT measures the height of nearly all water on Earth’s surface from space and provides one of the most detailed, comprehensive views of our planet’s oceans and freshwater lakes and rivers. After more than a year in Earth orbit, the mission has provided detailed information about coastal flooding, our warming oceans, and global sea level rise.
Join us for a live discussion with Dr. Ben Hamlington to learn how SWOT is #TrackingWorldWater to fill in our current gap of information regarding water at coastlines around the globe.
SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the U.S. component of the project.
You can learn more about SWOT at swot.jpl.nasa.gov and head to podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/SWOT?sections=data to access SWOT's data that is available to the public.
Resources referenced in the talk:
6:40 - More on global sea level: go.nasa.gov/3vmZXHi
23:01 - SWOT's KaRIn instrument gets global view of sea levels: youtu.be/obIkUQtSJgk
24:44 - SWOT monitors El Niño off the coast of Peru: go.nasa.gov/3Q47LEW
27:09 - SWOT monitors warming waters along California coast: go.nasa.gov/3PqnFs1
27:53 - SWOT satellite catches coastal flooding during California storms: go.nasa.gov/3TjIQzf
29:51 - SWOT data helps calculate depth of temporary lake in Death Valley: go.nasa.gov/49Euhes
Speaker:
Dr. Ben Hamlington, Research Scientist in the Sea Level and Ice Group, Team Lead of the NASA Sea Level Change
Host:
Nikki Wyrick, Office of Communications and Education, NASA JPL
Co-host:
Jocelyn Argueta, Earth Public Engagement, NASA JPL
(Original Air Date: April 18, 2024)
Join us to see the spacecraft up close before it ships to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to prepare for launch in October 2024. Europa Clipper Project Manager Jordan Evans will take us on a tour of the spacecraft and discuss the instruments it will use when it reaches Jupiter's icy moon.
Learn more about the spacecraft's instruments and see what the completed spacecraft will look like using this 3D model: europa.nasa.gov/spacecraft/meet-europa-clipper
For more about the mission, visit: europa.nasa.gov
To learn more about the spacecraft’s assembly, visit: europa.nasa.gov/spacecraft/assembly
As of early April 2024, the Perseverance rover has collected and sealed 24 scientifically selected samples inside pristine tubes as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. The next stage is to get them to Earth for study.
Considered one of the highest priorities by the scientists in the Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032, Mars Sample Return would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and provides the best opportunity to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. NASA is teaming with ESA (European Space Agency) on this important endeavor.
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, as well as be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Read about all the carefully selected samples: mars.nasa.gov/mars-rock-samples
Learn more about the Mars Sample Return campaign: mars.nasa.gov/msr
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL/Purdue/USGS
Catch Mars and Saturn rising, and Jupiter hangs out with Comet 12P. Plus NASA has you covered for the total eclipse whether you're headed to totality or watching from afar.
0:00 Intro
0:14 Moon & planet highlights
0:57 Comet 12p/Pons-Brooks
1:38 Total solar eclipse
3:45 April Moon phases
Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.
— Additional Resources —
NASA's Solar Eclipse hub: science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024
Find events & clubs: NASA's Night Sky Network: science.nasa.gov/skywatching/night-sky-network
Skywatching resources from NASA: science.nasa.gov/skywatching
Curiosity captured this vista using the left black-and-white navigation camera mounted on its mast, or “head,” on Feb. 1, 2024, the 4,084th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The panorama is made up of 10 images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth.
Gediz Vallis channel was one of the last features to form on the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Mount Sharp, the base of which Curiosity has been ascending since 2014. The channel is filled with piles of boulders and other debris that may have been brought here by debris flows (rapid, wet landslides) or dry avalanches. Also visible in the image is the top of Curiosity’s including ports where the rover drops powderized rock samples into instruments within its belly; the robotic arm and its drill are stowed at the right.
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For more about Curiosity, visit: mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UC Berkeley
Join us live on Wednesday, March 27, at 12:30 pm PT / 3:30 pm ET from NASA JPL's Space Simulator, where the Europa Clipper spacecraft recently completed its crucial thermal vacuum testing. Planetary Scientist Elodie Lesage and Deputy Payload Systems Engineer Annie Marinan will guide us through this pivotal spacecraft testing and discuss the exciting possibilities we hope to uncover when we reach Jupiter's icy moon.
Europa Clipper is set to launch in October 2024 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
When the spacecraft is in JPL’s clean room, viewers also can watch a 24-hour live feed of the spacecraft at: bit.ly/clippercam
For more information on the mission go to: europa.nasa.gov/.
Built in 1961, the Space Simulator is designed for environmental testing of robotic spacecraft in simulated interplanetary conditions of extreme cold, high vacuum, and intense solar radiation. The chamber is a stainless steel cylindrical vessel with a diameter of 25 feet and a height of 85 feet. A 15-by-25-foot door provides access for loading spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Designed as a technology demonstration that would perform up to five experimental test flights over a span of 30 days, the Mars helicopter surpassed expectations – repeatedly – only recently completing its mission after having logged an incredible 72 flights over nearly three years.
Join us for a live talk to learn how Ingenuity’s team used resourcefulness and creativity to transform the rotorcraft from a successful tech demo into a helpful scout for the Perseverance rover, ultimately proving the value of aerial exploration for future interplanetary missions.
Speakers:
Dr. Havard F. Grip, Aerodynamics, Flight Control Lead, and Chief Pilot (Flights 1-37), NASA JPL
Dr. Martin Cacan, Guidance and Control Analyst, Pilot (Flights 15-37), Guidance, Navigation, Control Lead, and Chief Pilot (Flights 38-72), NASA JPL
Host:
Gregory Smith, Office of Communications and Education, NASA JPL
Co-host:
Sarah Marcotte, Mars Public Engagement, NASA JPL
(Original Air Date: March 21, 2024)