Tag: Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA Expanding Lunar Exploration with Upgraded SLS Mega Rocket Design

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A final round of certification testing for production of new RS-25 engines to power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, beginning with Artemis V, is underway at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  Block 1B will also be built to house new-production RS-25 core stage engines that will operate routinely at 111% of their rated power versus the Block 1 RS-25 engines that operate at 109%, providing almost 2,000 more pounds of payload to the Moon. NASA By: Martin Burkey As NASA prepares for its first crewed…

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NASA Continues Artemis Moon Rocket Engine Test Series

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Full-duration RS-25 Engine Hot Fire NASA/Danny Nowlin Full-duration RS-25 Engine Hot Fire NASA/Danny Nowlin Full-duration RS-25 Engine Hot Fire NASA/Danny Nowlin Full-duration RS-25 Engine Hot Fire NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA conducted a full-duration RS-25 engine hot fire March 6, continuing a final round of certification testing for production of new engines to help power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. The full-duration test on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, marked the ninth…

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The Marshall Star for March 6, 2024

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26 Min Read The Marshall Star for March 6, 2024 Marshall Supports NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Launch By Jessica Barnett Team members at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center celebrated another successful launch as astronauts on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission began the journey to the International Space Station in the late hours of March 3. Marshall’s support team is part of the agency’s CCP (Commercial Crew Program) team, which partners with private companies, such as SpaceX, to develop commercial crew space transportation capabilities to and from the space station. A SpaceX Falcon…

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Former Student Launch Competitor Turns Experience into NASA Engineering Career

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Meredith Patterson, front row, center right, poses with her teammates in the High-Powered Rocketry Club at North Carolina State University on the day they launched the rocket they built for NASA’s 2023 Student Launch. The experience and knowledge Patterson gained from her years participating in the annual competition helped pave the way for a career at NASA after graduation. High-Powered Rocketry Club at NC State By Jessica Barnett Sometimes, all it takes is a few years and the right…

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Stellar Beads on a String

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Galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/O. Omoruyi et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/G. Tremblay et al.; Radio: ASTRON/LOFAR; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk Astronomers have discovered one of the most powerful eruptions from a black hole ever recorded in the system known as SDSS J1531+3414 (SDSS J1531 for short). As explained in our press release, this mega-explosion billions of years ago may help explain the formation of a striking pattern of star clusters around two massive galaxies, resembling “beads on a string.” SDSS J1531 is a massive galaxy cluster containing hundreds of individual galaxies and huge reservoirs of hot gas and dark…

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Rocket Propellant Tanks for NASA’s Artemis III Mission Take Shape

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All the major structures that will form the core stage for NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for the agency’s Artemis III mission are structurally complete. Technicians finished welding the 51-foot liquid oxygen tank structure, left, inside the Vertical Assembly Building at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Jan. 8. The liquid hydrogen tank, right, completed internal cleaning Nov. 14. NASA/Michael DeMocker As NASA works to develop all the systems needed to return astronauts to the Moon under its Artemis campaign for the benefit of all, the SLS (Space…

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NASA Marshall Invites Media to Meet New Center Director

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Joseph Pelfrey, director, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center will host a media day at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15, in the first-floor lobby of Building 4221 on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, to introduce new Center Director Joseph Pelfrey. Media are invited to meet and speak with Pelfrey about his role. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson named Pelfrey director of Marshall on Feb. 5. Pelfrey had served as acting center…

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Rahul Ramachandran Essay Published on NASA’s EarthData

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January 29, 2024 / Earth Science Rahul Ramachandran (ST11) wrote his American Geophysical Union (AGU)  Leptoukh lecture as an essay titled “From petabytes to Insights: Tackling Earth Science’s Scaling Problem ”. While Ramachandran was unable to present at AGU, the essay was published on NASA EarthData website (https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/articles/2023-leptoukh-lecture-essay). The essay addresses the challenge of scaling in Earth science due to increasing data volumes. Ramachandran discusses the integration of Artificial Intelligence into informatics as a potential solution to these challenges. He reflects on his journey in informatics and emphasizes the importance of managing…

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Telescopes Show the Milky Way’s Black Hole is Ready for a Kick

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NASA/CXC/M.Weiss This artist’s illustration depicts the findings of a new study about the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy called Sagittarius A* (abbreviated as Sgr A*). As reported in our latest press release, this result found that Sgr A* is spinning so quickly that it is warping spacetime — that is, time and the three dimensions of space — so that it can look more like a football. These results were made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). A team of researchers applied a new…

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NASA Taps Alabama A&M University to Host Break the Ice Lunar Challenge

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Alabama A&M University Agribition Center will host the final Break the Ice Lunar Challenge featuring a large dirt-based indoor arena on 40 acres of land, offering plenty of green space to build Break the Ice’s complex testing infrastructure. Photo Courtesy: Alabama A&M University Extension By Savannah Bullard NASA has selected Alabama A&M University’s Agribition Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to host the final level of the agency’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, using indoor and outdoor space to ground test…

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