Author: NeRD

The Marshall Star for August 28, 2024

NeRD

27 Min Read The Marshall Star for August 28, 2024 Marshall Leadership Updates Team Members on Culture, Strategy By Wayne Smith Leadership from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center highlighted a successful summer before looking ahead to the center’s culture and strategy during an all-hands meeting Aug. 27 in Building 4316. Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey recapped milestone events of the past few months, including new hardware for the Artemis II test flight. The launch vehicle stage adapter for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket was rolled out Aug. 21 at Marshall…

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NASA Expands Human Exploration Rover Challenge to Middle Schools

NeRD

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The cover of the HERC 2025 handbook, which is now available online. By Wayne Smith Following a 2024 competition that garnered international attention, NASA is expanding its Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) to include a remote control division and inviting middle school students to participate. The 31st annual competition is scheduled for April 11-12, 2025, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. HERC is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office…

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Mock shuttle Pathfinder restored atop its stack at Alabama rocket center (photos)

NeRD

Pathfinder is back in its “space,” three and a half years after it “landed” on Earth. An early mockup of NASA’s now-retired winged orbiters, Pathfinder was returned to its position atop a space shuttle propulsion “stack” at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama on Wednesday morning (Aug. 28). The lift signaled that a multi-million-dollar restoration effort is nearing completion. “Returning Pathfinder to the shuttle stack after an extensive restoration process is a major milestone for us,” Kimberly Robinson, CEO and executive director of the Space & Rocket…

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NASA Assigns Astronaut Jonny Kim to First Space Station Mission

NeRD

Official portrait of NASA astronaut Jonny Kim in an EMU suit. Credit: NASA During his first mission to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will serve as a flight engineer and member of the upcoming Expedition 72/73 crew. Kim will launch on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft in March 2025, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. The trio will spend approximately eight months at the space station. While aboard the orbiting laboratory, Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew…

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NASA Project in Puerto Rico Trains Students in Marine Biology

NeRD

7 Min Read NASA Project in Puerto Rico Trains Students in Marine Biology A forested green peninsula of Culebra Island juts into the blue waters of the Caribbean as a rain storm hits in the distance. The teal blue surrounding the island indicates shallow waters, home to the island's famous coral reefs. Credits: NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Tainaliz Marie Rodríguez Lugo took a deep breath, adjusted her snorkel mask, and plunged into the ocean, fins first. Three weeks earlier, Rodríguez Lugo couldn’t swim. Now the college student was gathering data on…

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NASA, SpaceX Extend US Media Deadline for Crew-9 Launch to Station

NeRD

The SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship, carrying four Crew-5 members, approaches the International Space Station with the Earth’s horizon in the background. Credit: NASA/Kjell Lindgren NASA is extending U.S. media accreditation for the launch of the agency’s ninth rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station. This mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The application period for U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations is extended until 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 3.…

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Eclipse Soundscapes AudioMoth Donations Will Study Nature at Night

NeRD

Learn Home Eclipse Soundscapes AudioMoth… Audio Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Stories Science Activation Highlights Citizen Science   3 min read Eclipse Soundscapes AudioMoth Donations Will Study Nature at Night During the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, approximately 770 AudioMoth recording devices were used to capture sound data as part of the Eclipse Soundscapes Project — a multisensory participatory science (also known as “citizen science”) project that is studying how eclipses impact life on Earth. Following the eclipse, participants had the option to…

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Scientists find surprising clue about Venus’ past in its atmosphere

NeRD

Scientists have observed something unexpected in Venus’ atmosphere — an increase in the level of deuterium relative to hydrogen. Okay, sure, that doesn’t sound like the most exciting statement. However, the consequences of this discovery could actually upend our current understanding of the amber world. As it turns out, it would affect our assumption that Venus is a perpetually barren, inhospitable planet. Here’s how. “Venus is often called Earth’s twin due to its similar size,” said Hiroki Karyu, a researcher at Tohoku University and one of the study’s scientists, in…

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‘Star Wars Outlaws’ enters our galaxy this week! Watch the new launch trailer (video)

NeRD

Star Wars Outlaws: Official Launch Trailer – YouTube Watch On After what might seem an interminably long wait, Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft’s third-person sci-fi adventure game, “Star Wars Outlaws,” arrives Tuesday, Aug. 27 in early access for those who ponied up a bunch more pennies for the Gold Edition, Ultimate Edition, or a Ubisoft Plus membership, prior to its standard global release on Friday, Aug. 30 for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. An energetic new launch trailer for “Star Wars Outlaws” was recently introduced this past Thursday at…

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