NASA Wallops Signs Space Act Agreement to Support STEM Outreach

Earlier this year, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility reaffirmed a 25-year relationship with the Virginia Space Flight Academy (VASFA) through the signing of a new Space Act Agreement. This formal partnership provides outreach opportunities for youth, including a residential space adventure camp each summer.

“Wallops is proud to continue our 25-year partnership with VASFA,” said Wallops Director David Pierce. “The camp programs bring local and regional youth to the facility and our subject matter experts look forward to providing behind-the-scenes tours to support the development of the next generation of aerospace professionals.”

 VASFA was launched in 1998 as one of six projects initiated by the Eastern Shore Regional Partnership. The goal was to offer quality summer camp experiences for local youth by leveraging the high-tech activities being conducted at Wallops, the Virginia Spaceport Authority (then known as the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority), NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and the United States Navy. Based on the success of the pilot camps, the nonprofit organization was officially established in 2000 and has continued to lead the program.

Since then, over 6,000 youth have attended summer camp, with many campers returning to camp as staff. Camp staff members have had the opportunity to leverage their camp experiences to secure internships and employment with NASA and other aerospace partners. An additional 1,000 students have been served by a new series of year-round STEM Academy programming that was launched in 2021.

During the 2023 summer camp season, campers had the opportunity to participate in a few unique experiences. At the July 28 Advanced Aerospace Camp graduation ceremony, the campers and their families were joined by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin as they presented VASFA with the Spirit of Virginia award. This award recognizes unique qualities and standout achievements across the Commonwealth and salutes Virginians for their uncommon contributions in private industries, education, culture, the arts, and philanthropy. The following week, Advanced Coding and Robotics campers were treated to a rocket launch viewing event during the Northrop Grumman’s 19^th cargo resupply launch to the International Space Station aboard the Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia.

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Reflection

A Great Blue Heron skims its wings on a waterway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 11, 2021, making an artistic reflection on the water’s surface. Kennedy shares a border with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Merritt Island’s strategic location along the Atlantic Flyway provides a resting and feeding place for thousands of wading birds, shorebirds, and songbirds. Great Blue Herons are just one of the more than 330 native and migratory bird species that call Kennedy and the wildlife refuge home.

Image Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

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Monika Luabeya

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures a Martian Day, From Dawn to Dusk

Videos from the rover show its shadow moving across the Martian surface during a 12-hour sequence while Curiosity remained parked.

When NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover isn’t on the move, it works pretty well as a sundial, as seen in two black-and-white videos recorded on Nov. 8, the 4,002nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rover captured its own shadow shifting across the surface of Mars using its black-and-white Hazard-Avoidance Cameras, or Hazcams.

Instructions to record the videos were part of the last set of commands beamed up to Curiosity just before the start of Mars solar conjunction, a period when the Sun is between Earth and Mars. Because plasma from the Sun can interfere with radio communications, missions hold off on sending commands to Mars spacecraft for several weeks during this time. (The missions weren’t totally out of contact: They still radioed back regular health check-ins throughout conjunction.)

Rover drivers normally rely on Curiosity’s Hazcams to spot rocks, slopes, and other hazards that may be risky to traverse. But because the rover’s other activities were intentionally scaled back just prior to conjunction, the team decided to use the Hazcams to record 12 hours of snapshots for the first time, hoping to capture clouds or dust devils that could reveal more about the Red Planet’s weather.

When the images came down to Earth after conjunction, scientists didn’t see any weather of note, but the pair of 25-frame videos they put together do capture the passage of time. Extending from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. local time, the videos show Curiosity’s silhouette shifting as the day moves from morning to afternoon to evening.

The first video, featuring images from the front Hazcam, looks southeast along Gediz Vallis, a valley found on Mount Sharp. Curiosity has been ascending the base of the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain, which sits in Gale Crater, since 2014.

As the sky brightens during sunrise, the shadow of the rover’s 7-foot (2-meter) robotic arm moves to the left, and Curiosity’s front wheels emerge from the darkness on either side of the frame. Also becoming visible at left is a circular calibration target mounted on the shoulder of the robotic arm. Engineers use the target to test the accuracy of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, an instrument that detects chemical elements on the Martian surface.

In the middle of the day, the front Hazcam’s autoexposure algorithm settles on exposure times of around one-third of a second. By nightfall, that exposure time grows to more than a minute, causing the typical sensor noise known as “hot pixels” that appears as white snow across the final image.

The second video shows the view of the rear Hazcam as it looks northwest down the slopes of Mount Sharp to the floor of Gale Crater. The rover’s right rear wheel is visible, along with the shadow of Curiosity’s power system. A small black artifact that appears at the left midway through the video, during the 17th frame, resulted from a cosmic ray hitting the camera sensor. Likewise, the bright flashing and other noise at the end of the video are the result of heat from the spacecraft’s power system affecting the Hazcam’s image sensor.

These images have been re-projected to correct the wide-angle lenses of the Hazcams. The speckled appearance of the images, especially prominent in the rear-camera video, is due to 11 years of Martian dust settling on the lenses.

More About the Mission

Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more about Curiosity, visit:

http://mars.nasa.gov/msl

News Media Contacts

Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2023-189

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Anthony Greicius

NASA Sets Coverage for ULA, Astrobotic Artemis Robotic Moon Launch

As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis program, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Astrobotic are targeting 2:18 a.m. EST Monday, Jan. 8, for the first commercial robotic launch to the Moon’s surface. Carrying NASA science, liftoff of ULA’s Vulcan rocket and Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander will happen from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Live launch coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events starting Thursday, Jan. 4. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. Follow events online at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

Peregrine will land on the Moon on Friday, Feb. 23. The NASA payloads aboard the lander aim to help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis and in advance of human missions on the lunar surface.

Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern):

Thursday, Jan. 4

11 a.m. – Science media briefing via WebEx with the following participants:

• Paul Niles, CLPS project scientist, NASA Headquarters
• Chris Culbert, CLPS program manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
• Nic Stoffle, science and operations lead for Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer, NASA Johnson
• Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator, Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System, NASA’s Ames Research Center
• Richard Elphic, principal investigator, Neutron Spectrometer System, NASA’s Ames Research Center
• Barbara Cohen, principal investigator, Peregrine Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• Daniel Cremons, deputy principal investigator for Laser Retroreflector, NASA Goddard
• Niki Werkheiser, director, Technology Maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters

Video of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

Media may ask questions via WebEx. For the dial-in information, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 10 a.m. on Jan. 4, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Friday, Jan. 5

3 p.m. – Lunar delivery readiness media teleconference with the following participants:

• Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Ryan Watkins, program scientist, Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, NASA Headquarters
• John Thornton, CEO, Astrobotic
• Gary Wentz, vice president, Government and Commercial Programs, ULA
• Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

Media may ask questions via phone. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than 1 p.m. on Jan. 5, at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Monday, Jan. 8

1:30 a.m. – NASA TV launch coverage begins

2:18 a.m. – Launch

NASA launch coverage

Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, the full mission broadcast can be heard on -1220 and -1240, while the countdown net only can be heard on -7135 beginning approximately at 1:30 a.m. when the mission broadcast begins.

On launch day, a “tech feed” showing a static shot of the launch pad without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel.

NASA website launch coverage

Launch day coverage of the mission will be available on the NASA website. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 8, as the countdown milestones occur. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage on the Artemis blog for updates.

Attend launch virtually

Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. As a virtual guest, you have access to curated resources, schedule changes, and mission-specific information delivered straight to your inbox. Following each activity, virtual guests will receive a commemorative stamp for their virtual guest passport.

Watch, engage on social media

Let people know you’re following the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by using the hashtags #Artermis. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:

In May 2019, NASA awarded a task order for the scientific payload delivery to Astrobotic, which is on track to be one of the first of at least eight CLPS deliveries already planned. Through Artemis, NASA is working with multiple CLPS vendors to send a regular cadence of deliveries to the Moon to perform science investigations, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon before NASA sends the first astronauts to land near the lunar South Pole.

The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.

For media inquiries relating to the launch provider, please contact ULA’s communications department by emailing: media@ulalaunch.com. For media inquiries relating to the CLPS provider, Astrobotic, please contact Astrobotic’s communication department by emailing: contact@astrobotic.com.

X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis, @NASAMoon

Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAArtemis

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAArtemis

Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo o Messod Bendayan a: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov o messod.c.bendayan@nasa.gov.

-end-

Karen Fox / Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-2546
karen.fox@nasa.gov / alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov   

Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov

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Roxana Bardan

NASA’s Juno to Get Close Look at Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io on Dec. 30

The orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Tuesday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the surface of the most volcanic world in our solar system, the pass is expected to allow Juno instruments to generate a firehose of data.

“By combining data from this flyby with our previous observations, the Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” said Juno’s principal investigator, Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “We are looking for how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, how the shape of the lava flow changes, and how Io’s activity is connected to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.”

A second ultra-close flyby of Io is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024, in which Juno will again come within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the surface.

The spacecraft has been monitoring Io’s volcanic activity from distances ranging from about 6,830 miles (11,000 kilometers) to over 62,100 miles (100,000 kilometers), and has provided the first views of the moon’s north and south poles. The spacecraft has also performed close flybys of Jupiter’s icy moons Ganymede and Europa.

“With our pair of close flybys in December and February, Juno will investigate the source of Io’s massive volcanic activity, whether a magma ocean exists underneath its crust, and the importance of tidal forces from Jupiter, which are relentlessly squeezing this tortured moon,” said Bolton.

Now in the third year of its extended mission to investigate the origin of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft will also explore the ring system where some of the gas giant’s inner moons reside.

Picture This

All three cameras aboard Juno will be active during the Io flyby. The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), which takes images in infrared, will be collecting the heat signatures emitted by volcanoes and calderas covering the moon’s surface. The mission’s Stellar Reference Unit (a navigational star camera that has also provided valuable science) will obtain the highest-resolution image of the surface to date. And the JunoCam imager will take visible-light color images.

JunoCam was included on the spacecraft for the public’s engagement and was designed to operate for up to eight flybys of Jupiter. The upcoming flyby of Io will be Juno’s 57th orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft and cameras have endured one of the solar system’s most punishing radiation environments.

“The cumulative effects of all that radiation has begun to show on JunoCam over the last few orbits,” said Ed Hirst, project manager of Juno at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Pictures from the last flyby show a reduction in the imager’s dynamic range and the appearance of ‘striping’ noise. Our engineering team has been working on solutions to alleviate the radiation damage and to keep the imager going.”

More Io, Please

After several months of study and assessment, the Juno team adjusted the spacecraft’s planned future trajectory to add seven new distant Io flybys (for a total of 18) to the extended mission plan. After the close Io pass on Feb. 3, the spacecraft will fly by Io every other orbit, with each orbit growing progressively more distant: The first will be at an altitude of about 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) above Io, and the last will be at about 71,450 miles (115,000 kilometers).

The gravitational pull of Io on Juno during the Dec. 30 flyby will reduce the spacecraft’s orbit around Jupiter from 38 days to 35 days. Juno’s orbit will drop to 33 days after the Feb. 3 flyby.

After that, Juno’s new trajectory will result in Jupiter blocking the Sun from the spacecraft for about five minutes at the time when the orbiter is at its closest to the planet, a period called perijove. Although this will be the first time the solar-powered spacecraft has encountered darkness since its flyby of Earth in October 2013, the duration will be too short to affect its overall operation. With the exception of the Feb. 3 perijove, the spacecraft will encounter solar eclipses like this during every close flyby of Jupiter from now on through the remainder of its extended mission, which ends in late 2025.

Starting in April 2024, the spacecraft will carry out a series of occultation experiments that use Juno’s Gravity Science experiment to probe Jupiter’s upper atmospheric makeup, which provides key information on the planet’s shape and interior structure.

More About the Mission

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.

More information about Juno is available at:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

News Media Contacts

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Deb Schmid
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio
210-522-2254
dschmid@swri.org

2023-188

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