June 25, 2024 – NeRDs Moonbase

Unity in Orbit: Astronauts Soar with Pride Aboard Station

June 25, 2024 NeRD

A powerful symbol of pride waved high above Earth aboard the International Space Station in December 2021, reflecting NASA’s commitment to a collaborative and inclusive environment in human spaceflight. The Pride flag was unveiled by NASA astronauts to celebrate our identities and unite in our commitment to equality and acceptance for all individuals. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, leveraging diverse talents is key to achieving the ambitious goals of space exploration. Johnson supports its employees by standing in solidarity and providing resources such as the Out & Allied…

Human Factors Researcher Garrett Sadler

June 25, 2024 NeRD

“You know, there’s the whole impostor syndrome thing, and I didn’t feel like I was qualified to be here because I didn’t have some sort of traditional path or because my educational background looks different than that of most of my colleagues. But I’m now at a place where I’ve come to understand that’s true for everyone.” – Garrett Sadler, Human Factors Researcher, NASA’s Ames Research Center

NASA Infrared Detector Technical Interchange

June 25, 2024 NeRD

When/Where August 27-28, 2024NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA Who may attend? Invited participants from the NASA Centers, NASA HQ, and the broader community of IR technology developers and stakeholders. All participants must be U.S. Persons – the meeting will be held at the CUI level and presentations may contain ITAR material. Registration will be available, soon! Purpose The purpose of the TIM is to openly discuss and review the current state of IR technology in the 2-1000 µm wavelength range. This workshop is intended to evaluate existing relevant…

Sprites from space! Astronaut photographs rare red lightning phenomenon from ISS

June 25, 2024 NeRD

An astronaut captured an elusive glimpse of red lightning from space. NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick imaged the rare red sprite phenomenon from the International Space Station earlier in the year, which may build on earlier studies of the lightning type on the orbiting complex. “Super lucky a few weeks ago when shooting a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa. One of the frames in the timelapse had a red sprite,” NASA astronaut Dominick wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday (June 20). “A rare event.…

Jake Cupani: Increasing Visibility in Data Science

June 25, 2024 NeRD

Jake Cupani, a data science specialist, focuses on the intersection between data visualization and user experience — UX — design. Name: Jake CupaniTitle: Financial analytics support specialistOrganization: Financial Analytics and Systems Office, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (Code 156) Jake Cupani is a financial analytics support specialist at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo courtesy of Jake Cupani What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I create data visualizations and dashboards to help visualize some of the key metrics…

NASA SCoPE Funds Early Career Scientists for NASA Educational Outreach

June 25, 2024 NeRD

4 min read NASA SCoPE Funds Early Career Scientists for NASA Educational Outreach NASA SCoPE (NASA SMD Community of Practice for Engagement) offers small Seed Grant funding and Event Facilitation Grants to early career scientists and engineers to work with NASA Science Activation teams and participate in educational outreach opportunities. These proposals communicate NASA science through the creation of inspiring educational materials that are effective, scientifically authentic, and broaden participation of historically marginalized communities. Get to know this May 2024 round of awardees who received $80K+ in funds for NASA…

Marvel superheroes battle bloodthirsty Xenomorphs in new ‘Alien’ variant covers

June 25, 2024 NeRD

We’ll soon get some tastes of the unique brand of horrors coming in Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić’s “Aliens vs. Avengers” crossover miniseries, which will be released in August. Marvel has unleashed the wicked extraterrestrial creatures from the “Alien” franchise onto five variant covers, which will roll out weekly in July and August. Not only is this an explosion of “Alien”-related offerings form Marvel to heat up the summer, but it also coincides with the arrival of director Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” movie on Aug. 16, 2024, which is the…

NASA-IBM Collaboration Develops INDUS Large Language Models for Advanced Science Research

June 25, 2024 NeRD

4 min read NASA-IBM Collaboration Develops INDUS Large Language Models for Advanced Science Research Named for the southern sky constellation, INDUS (stylized in all caps) is a comprehensive suite of large language models supporting five science domains. NASA By Derek Koehl Collaborations with private, non-federal partners through Space Act Agreements are a key component in the work done by NASA’s Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT). A collaboration with International Business Machines (IBM) has produced INDUS, a comprehensive suite of large language models (LLMs) tailored for the domains of…

It’s back! Aurora-sparking sunspot returns for rare 3rd trip across the sun, firing off explosive solar flare (video)

June 25, 2024 NeRD

The historic sunspot region that sparked the record-breaking auroras of May 2024 has returned in explosive fashion, firing off a colossal M9.3 class solar flare on June 23. But this isn’t the first time we have encountered this hyperactive sunspot. AR3723 is the returning version of sunspot AR3697 and before that AR3664 — which was responsible for the colossal G5 geomagnetic storm that triggered epic auroras around the world. The sun‘s rotation period averages 27 days, which means Earth can view a given active region for around two weeks before…