Month: December 2024

NESC Assists in Heatshield Investigation

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NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I mission launched from KSC on November 16, 2022. After a successful mission that included orbiting the Moon, the Orion spacecraft returned to Earth splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, 2022. While the spacecraft made a safe return to Earth, postflight inspection of Orion’s thermal protection indicated that the base heatshield did not perform as expected. The heatshield is composed of Avcoat, an ablative material designed to protect the crew module during the nearly 5000ºF temperatures experienced during atmospheric entry upon return from the…

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Laboratory Director Tawnya Plummer Laughinghouse

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“When I transitioned from Spelman to Georgia Tech, it was probably the first time in my life that I had a professor that made me question if I belonged or had what it takes. Previously, I was always used as an example of how students should study, and now, in my first chemical engineering class, I would raise my hand for a question and wouldn’t get recognized, or my question would be followed by, ‘I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying, Miss Plummer.’ “I was struggling with imposter syndrome…

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The ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special 2024 is pure Steven Moffat: Here’s why ‘Joy’ is so important to the world

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The TARDIS is as much a part of Christmas as turkey, mince pies, and mulled wine, and former “Doctor Who” showrunner Steven Moffat certainly knows his way around a festive adventure. This year’s holiday offering, “Joy to the World”, is the writer’s ninth, and it comes with all the trimmings you’d expect. Alongside the obligatory festive moments, Moffat (the brains behind “Blink”, “The Girl in the Fireplace” and “Heaven Sent”) brings his trademark clockwork plotting to the holiday party. In “Joy to the World”, the Doctor spends Christmas in the…

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Astronauts on ISS beam holiday cheer to Earth for Christmas (video)

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Space Station Astronauts Deliver a Christmas Message for 2024 – YouTube Watch On Surrounded by floating candy canes and a makeshift snowman made out of stowage bags, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station gathered together to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone back on Earth. Expedition 72 commander Sunita “Suni” Williams, sporting a pair of festive reindeer antlers, joined fellow NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Don Pettit and Nick Hague to share some holiday cheer from their home away from home, 260 miles (420 kilometers) above the planet. “It’s…

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Piece of Apollo 11 spacecraft ‘lands’ in moon meteorite-lined wedding ring

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For better or for worse, a small part of the Apollo 11 spacecraft will now be Jon Mesick’s to have and to hold for all the days of his life. The strip of golden thermal polyimide tape, which made the trip to the moon with the first astronauts to land there in 1969, is now the centerpiece of Mesick’s custom wedding band made by the Honest Hands Rings Company of Morrison, Colorado. The ring, which also incorporates lunar meteorite, is the focus of a newly posted online video that highlights…

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Hang a Shining Star Upon the Highest Bough

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X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Clow, M.; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and K. Arcand This new view of the “Christmas tree cluster” NGC 2264, released on Dec. 17, 2024, combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data from astrophotographer Michael Clow’s telescope in Arizona. Chandra data is represented in red, purple, blue, and white, while optical data is in green and violet. Located about 2,500 light-years from Earth, NGC 2264 is a cluster of young stars between one and five million years old. The stars are seen here as blue…

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ULA wants to upgrade Vulcan Centaur rocket into a ‘space interceptor’ to defend satellites

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United Launch Alliance (ULA) envisions its new, powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket as playing a key role in defending satellites from potential threats in space. Centaur, the upper stage of the Vulcan Centaur, is designed for orbit. During the recent Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said that Centaur could be upgraded to function in a defensive capacity in orbit. If an adversary were to endanger U.S. Space Force assets, the Centaur could operate as a “space interceptor” that could act fast to provide defense. “What I’ve been…

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Collaboration Is Key to A Strong Materials Discipline

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NASA has a strong need for advanced materials and processes (M&P) across the realms of robotic- and crewed-spaceflight, as well as aeronautics, particularly when one acknowledges that all craft must be made of something. To meet that need, the materials discipline relies on collaboration—both between centers and across disciplines. Reaching the Agency’s Moon-to-Mars objectives will require leveraging each center’s specific M&P expertise, cross-training among the centers, and routinely interacting with the 20-plus Agency disciplines like structures, space environments, and loads and dynamics. When a discipline touches all classes of materials;…

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Characterizing the Visual Experience of Astronauts at the Lunar South Pole

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Humans are returning to the Moon—this time, to stay. Because our presence will be more permanent, NASA has selected a location that maximizes line-of-sight communication with Earth, solar visibility, and access to water ice: the Lunar South Pole (LSP). While the Sun is in the lunar sky more consistently at the poles, it never rises more than a few degrees above the horizon; in the target landing regions, the highest possible elevation is 7°. This presents a harsh lighting environment never experienced during the Apollo missions, or in fact, in…

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Mars orbiters witness a ‘winter wonderland’ on the Red Planet (photos)

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Hoping for a white Christmas this year? Well, even if there’s no snow where you live, at least you can enjoy these images of a “winter” wonderland on Mars. Taken by the German-built High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express orbiter in June 2022, and by NASA’s NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on September 2022, these images showcase what appears to be a snowy landscape in the Australe Scopuli region of Mars, near the planet’s south pole.…

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