An illustration of our solar system. Planets and other objects are not to scale.
Credits: NASA
What’s the weather like out there? We mean waaaay out there in our solar system – where the forecast might not be quite what you think.
Let’s look at the mean temperature of the Sun, and the planets in our solar system. The mean temperature is the average temperature over the surface of the rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Dwarf planet Pluto also has a solid surface. But since the gas giants don’t have a surface, the mean is the average temperature at what would be equivalent at sea level on Earth.
An illustration of planets in our solar system showing their mean temperatures. Planets and dwarf planet Pluto are not to scale.
NASA
Let’s start with our Sun. You already know the Sun is hot. OK, it’s extremely hot! But temperatures on the Sun also are a bit puzzling.
An image of the Sun taken Oct. 30, 2023, by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
NASA/SDO
The hottest part of the Sun is its core, where temperatures top 27 million°F (15 million°C). The part of the Sun we call its surface – the photosphere – is a relatively cool 10,000° F (5,500°C). In one of the Sun’s biggest mysteries, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, gets hotter the farther it stretches from the surface. The corona reaches up to 3.5 million°F (2 million°C) – much, much hotter than the photosphere.
So some temperatures on the Sun are a bit upside down. How about the planets? Surely things are cooler on the planets that are farther from the Sun.
Well, mostly. But then there’s Venus.
As it sped away from Venus, NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this seemingly peaceful view of a planet the size of Earth, wrapped in a dense, global cloud layer. But, contrary to its serene appearance, the clouded globe of Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Venus is the second closest planet to the Sun after Mercury, with an average distance from the Sun of about 67 million miles (108 million kilometers). It takes sunlight about six minutes to travel to Venus.
Venus also is Earth’s closest neighbor and is similar in size. It has even been called Earth’s twin. But Venus is shrouded in clouds and has a dense atmosphere that acts as a greenhouse and heats the surface to above the melting point of lead. It has a mean surface temperature of 867°F (464°C).
So Venus – not Mercury – is the hottest planet in our solar system. Save that bit of info for any future trivia contests.
Maybe Venus is hotter, but Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Surely it gets hot, too?
Mercury as seen from NASA’s MESSENGER, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Mercury is about 36 million miles (57 million kilometers) from the Sun. From this distance, it takes sunlight about three minutes to travel to Mercury. Even though it’s sitting right next to the Sun – relatively speaking – Mercury gets extremely cold at night. It has a mean surface temperature of 333°F (167°C). Daytime temperatures get much hotter than the mean, and can reach highs of 800°F (430°C). But without an atmosphere thick enough to hold in the heat at night, temperatures can dip as low as -290°F (-180°C).
Ahhh, Earth. We know about the weather here, right? Even Earth has some temperatures you may not have heard about.
An image of Earth from the Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR.
NASA
Earth is an average of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the Sun. It takes about eight minutes for light from the Sun to reach our planet.
Our homeworld is a dynamic and stormy planet with everything from clear, sunny days, to brief rain showers, to tornados, to raging hurricanes, to blizzards, and dust storms. But in spite of its wide variety of storms – Earth generally has very hospitable temperatures compared to the other planets. The mean surface temperature on Earth is 59°F (15°C). But Earth days have some extreme temperatures. According to NOAA, Death Valley holds the record for the world’s highest surface air temperature ever recorded on Earth: 134°F (56.7°C) observed at Furnace Creek (Greenland Ranch), California, on July 10, 1913. Earth’s lowest recorded temperature was -128.6°F (-89.2°C) at Vostok Station, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
NASA missions have found lots of evidence that Mars was much wetter and warmer, with a thicker atmosphere, billions of years ago. How about now?
Side-by-side animated images show how a 2018 global dust storm enveloped the Red Planet. The images were taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Mars is an average distance of 142 million miles (228 million kilometers) from the Sun. From this distance, it takes about 13 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Mars.
The median surface temperature on Mars is -85°F (-65°C). Because the atmosphere is so thin, heat from the Sun easily escapes Mars. Temperatures on the Red Planet range from the 70s°F (20s°C) to -225°F (-153°C). Occasionally, winds on Mars are strong enough to create dust storms that cover much of the planet. After such storms, it can be months before all of the dust settles.
Two NASA rovers on Mars have weather stations. You can check the daily temps at their locations:
The ground temperature around the Perseverance rover ranges from about -136°F to 62°F (-93°C to 17°C). The air temperature near the surface ranges from about -118°F to 8°F (-83°C to -13°C).
As planets move farther away from the Sun, it really cools down fast! Since gas giants Jupiter and Saturn don’t have a solid surface, temperatures are taken from a level in the atmosphere equal in pressure to sea level on Earth. The same goes for the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this image during a flyby of Jupiter. This view highlights Jupiter’s most famous weather phenomenon, the persistent storm known as the Great Red Spot. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill created this image using data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager.
Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Jupiter’s stripes and swirls are beautiful, but they are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. The planet’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years. The mean temperature on Jupiter is -166°F (-110°C).
Jupiter is an average distance of 484 million miles (778 million kilometers) from the Sun. From this distance, it takes sunlight 43 minutes to travel from the Sun to Jupiter. Jupiter has the shortest day in the solar system. One day on Jupiter takes only about 10 hours (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate or spin around once), and Jupiter makes a complete orbit around the Sun (a year in Jovian time) in about 12 Earth years (4,333 Earth days).
Jupiter’s equator is tilted with respect to its orbital path around the Sun by just 3 degrees. This means the giant planet spins nearly upright and does not have seasons as extreme as other planets do.
As we keep moving out into the solar system, we come to Saturn – the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in our solar system. Saturn orbits the Sun from an average distance of 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers). It takes sunlight 80 minutes to travel from the Sun to Saturn.
This series of images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows the development of the largest storm seen on Saturn since 1990. These true-color and composite near-true-color views chronicle the storm from its start in late 2010 through mid-2011, showing how the distinct head of the storm quickly grew large but eventually became engulfed by the storm’s tail.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Like fellow gas giant Jupiter, Saturn is a massive ball made mostly of hydrogen and helium and it doesn’t have a true surface. The mean temperature is -220°F (-140°C).
In addition to the bone-chilling cold, the winds in the upper atmosphere of Saturn reach 1,600 feet per second (500 meters per second) in the equatorial region. In contrast, the strongest hurricane-force winds on Earth top out at about 360 feet per second (110 meters per second). And the pressure – the same kind you feel when you dive deep underwater – is so powerful it squeezes gas into a liquid.
This colorful movie made with images taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 10, 2012. It is the highest-resolution view of the unique six-sided jet stream at Saturn’s north pole known as “the hexagon.”
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton University
Saturn’s north pole has an interesting atmospheric feature – a six-sided jet stream. This hexagon-shaped pattern was first noticed in images from the Voyager I spacecraft, and was more closely observed by the Cassini spacecraft in 2012. Spanning about 20,000 miles (30,000 kilometers) across, the hexagon is a wavy jet stream of 200-mile-per-hour winds (about 322 kilometers per hour) with a massive, rotating storm at the center. There is no weather feature like it anywhere else in the solar system.
Crane your neck to the side while we go check out the weather on Uranus, the sideways planet.
This is an image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The seventh planet from the Sun with the third largest diameter in our solar system, Uranus is very cold and windy. It has a mean temperature of -320°F (-195°C). Uranus rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin sideways, orbiting the Sun like a rolling ball. And like Saturn, Uranus has rings. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons.
Now we move on to the last major planet in our solar system – Neptune. What’s the weather like there? Well you would definitely need a windbreaker if you went for a visit. Dark, cold, and whipped by supersonic winds, giant Neptune is the eighth and most distant major planet orbiting our Sun. The mean temperature on Neptune is -330°F (-200°C).
And not to be outdone by Jupiter and its Great Red Spot, Neptune has the Great Dark Spot – and Scooter. Yep, Scooter.
Voyager 2 photographed these features on Neptune in 1989.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
This photograph of Neptune was created from two images taken by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in August 1989. It was the first and last time a spacecraft came close to Neptune. The image shows three of the features that Voyager 2 monitored. At the north (top) is the Great Dark Spot, accompanied by bright, white clouds that undergo rapid changes in appearance. To the south of the Great Dark Spot is the bright, triangular-shaped feature that Voyager scientists nicknamed “Scooter.” Still farther south is the feature called “Dark Spot 2,” which has a bright core.
More than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth, Neptune is not visible to the naked eye. In 2011, Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit of the Sun since its discovery.
That wraps up forecasting for the major planets.
But there is one more place we need to check out. Beyond Neptune is a small world, with a big heart – dwarf planet Pluto.
New Horizons scientists use enhanced color images to detect differences in the composition and texture of Pluto’s surface.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
With a mean surface temperature of -375°F (-225°C), Pluto is considered too cold to sustain life. Pluto’s interior is warmer, however, and some think there may be an ocean deep inside.
From an average distance of 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers) away from the Sun, it takes sunlight 5.5 hours to travel to Pluto. If you were to stand on the surface of Pluto at noon, the Sun would be 1/900 the brightness it is here on Earth. There is a moment each day near sunset here on Earth when the light is the same brightness as midday on Pluto.
So the next time you’re complaining about the weather in your spot here on Earth, think about Pluto and all the worlds in between.
The NSSC Small Business Office is responsible for providing outreach and liaison support to industry (both large and small businesses) and other members of the private sector. These activities are accomplished through a combination of individual counseling sessions, dissemination of information on upcoming NSSC procurement opportunities, and participation in local small business outreach events. The NSSC small business specialist also serves as the primary advisor to the NSSC acquisition community on all matters related to small business.
The Vision of the NSSC Small Business Office is to promote and integrate all small businesses into the competitive base of contactors that pioneer the future of space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.
The Mission of the NSSC Small Business Office is to:
Advise the NSSC acquisition community on all matters related to small business
Promote the development and management of NASA programs that assists all categories of small business
Develop small businesses in high-tech areas that includes technology transfer and commercialization of technology
Provide small business maximum practicable opportunities to participate in NSSC prime contracts and subcontracts
It is important to note the NSSC small business specialist:
Cannot assist contractors in the preparation of proposals
Cannot in any way guarantee receipt of a contract award
Serves as an advisor to the Contracting Officer who has final authority over contractual matters
Is not involved in the personnel decisions of a contractor, including the hiring of new employees
The Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) website will identify the following:
How to do Business with NASA
Business Development and Technology
Small Business Program
How to Partner with NASA
Outreach
Awards and Achievement
NASA’s Hubble Measures the Size of the Nearest Transiting Earth-Sized Planet
3 min read
NASA’s Hubble Measures the Size of the Nearest Transiting Earth-Sized Planet
This is an artist’s concept of the nearby exoplanet LTT 1445Ac, which is the size of Earth. The planet orbits a red dwarf star. The star is in a triple system, with two closely orbiting red dwarfs seen at upper right. The black dot in front of the bright light-red sphere at image center is planet LTT 1445Ac transiting the face of the star. The planet has a surface temperature of roughly 500 degrees Fahrenheit. In the foreground at lower left is another planet in the system, LTT 1445Ab. The view is from 22 light-years away, looking back toward our Sun, which is the bright dot at lower right. Some of the background stars are part of the constellation Boötes.
NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has measured the size of the nearest Earth-sized exoplanet that passes across the face of a neighboring star. This alignment, called a transit, opens the door to follow-on studies to see what kind of atmosphere, if any, the rocky world might have.
The diminutive planet, LTT 1445Ac, was first discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2022. But the geometry of the planet’s orbital plane relative to its star as seen from Earth was uncertain because TESS does not have the required optical resolution. This means the detection could have been a so-called grazing transit, where a planet only skims across a small portion of the parent star’s disk. This would yield an inaccurate lower limit of the planet’s diameter.
“There was a chance that this system has an unlucky geometry and if that’s the case, we wouldn’t measure the right size. But with Hubble’s capabilities we nailed its diameter,” said Emily Pass of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hubble observations show that the planet makes a normal transit fully across the star’s disk, yielding a true size of only 1.07 times Earth’s diameter. This means the planet is a rocky world, like Earth, with approximately the same surface gravity. But at a surface temperature of roughly 500 degrees Fahrenheit, it is too hot for life as we know it.
The planet orbits the star LTT 1445A, which is part of a triple system of three red dwarf stars that is 22 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. The star has two other reported planets that are larger than LTT 1445Ac. A tight pair of two other dwarf stars, LTT 1445B and C, lies about 3 billion miles away from LTT 1445A, also resolved by Hubble. The alignment of the three stars and the edge-on orbit of the BC pair suggests that everything in the system is co-planar, including the known planets.
“Transiting planets are exciting since we can characterize their atmospheres with spectroscopy, not only with Hubble but also with the James Webb Space Telescope. Our measurement is important because it tells us that this is likely a very nearby terrestrial planet. We are looking forward to follow-on observations that will allow us to better understand the diversity of planets around other stars,” said Pass.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.
NASA Names New Highest-Ranking Civil Servant, Head of Exploration
NASA’s Jim Free and Cathy Koerner
NASA
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Wednesday Jim Free’s promotion to associate administrator for the agency at NASA Headquarters in Washington, effective when his predecessor Bob Cabana retires on Sunday, Dec. 31. Since September 2021, Free has served as the associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD).
Nelson also announced Free’s deputy, Catherine Koerner, will succeed him as the next head of the mission directorate.
“So many of us in the NASA family have worked with Jim and have been inspired by his character and intellect. Pam, Bob, and I strongly believe that his wealth of experience and expertise will bring exceptional guidance and perspective to our leadership team in his new role as associate administrator, enhancing our collective efforts toward achieving bold goals for the benefit of all humanity,” said Administrator Nelson. “Cathy’s experience as the ESDMD deputy associate administrator – including her leadership in establishing and defining future space exploration architectures while overseeing the development of our deep space transportation systems – has prepared her for this new role as associate administrator for ESDMD. Cathy’s leadership will help NASA continue to extend humanity’s reach in the cosmos. Congratulations, Jim and Cathy!”
As associate administrator, Free will become NASA’s third highest-ranking executive, as well as highest-ranking civil servant. This role serves as a senior advisor to Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. When he assumes his role, Free also will lead the agency’s 10 center directors, and five mission directorate associate administrators at NASA Headquarters. He will act as the agency’s chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $25 billion.
Before his appointment to associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development in 2021, Free spent several years in various private sector roles. He left NASA in 2017 after serving as the agency’s deputy associate administrator for technical in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
Prior to joining NASA Headquarters, he worked his way up to center director at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio, where he was responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the activities required in accomplishing the missions assigned to the center. Free has served a variety of roles at NASA centers since beginning his career in 1990 at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
A native of Northeast Ohio, Free earned his bachelor’s degree in aeronautics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and his master’s degree in space systems engineering from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Free is the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Significant Achievement Medal, and numerous other awards.
In her new role as the associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, Koerner will assume responsibility for the development of NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture, defining and managing the systems development for Artemis missions, and planning for integrated deep space exploration approach.
As deputy associate administrator for the mission directorate, Koerner provides leadership and management of human spaceflight development and operations related to NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration goals. She currently is responsible for establishing and defining future space exploration architectures while overseeing development of new space transportation systems and supporting capabilities that are critical for human-led deep space exploration and scientific research.
Prior to her positions at NASA Headquarters, Koerner was NASA’s Orion Program manager at NASA Johnson, where she was responsible for oversight of design, development, and testing of the Orion spacecraft. Before leading the Orion Program, Koerner served as the director of Human Health and Performance Directorate, focusing on enhancing crew health and performance and mitigating risks associated with human spaceflight.
As a former NASA flight director, Koerner led teams in NASA’s mission control during space shuttle and International Space Station missions. She also previously held several leadership positions within the space station program during its assembly phase and managed NASA’s cargo resupply services contracts for it, helping foster a commercial space industry in low Earth orbit. Before Johnson, she worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Koerner earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has received numerous awards including a Presidential Rank Award in 2019, two Outstanding Leadership Medals (2006, 2013), NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal (2007), Johnson’s Center Director Commendation (2017) and numerous Group Achievement Awards.
Commercial Crew Program’s Plaque Hanging Tradition Continues, Celebrating Work Done by Marshall Team
By Celine Smith
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center participated in a new tradition last December to honor engineers for their exceptional efforts on CCP (Commercial Crew Program) missions to the International Space Station continued Nov. 13, with a third plaque hanging at the HOSC (Huntsville Operations Support Center).
Team members are nominated at Marshall, Johnson Space Center, and Kennedy Space Center – centers that support CCP – to hang the plaque of the mission they supported. David Gwaltney, LVSO (Launch Vehicle Systems Office) technical assistant, was selected to hang the plaque for Crew-5, and Jonathan Carman, deputy SpaceX Falcon 9 lead engineer, was selected to hang the plaque for Crew-6. The Crew-5 mission launched in October of 2022. Crew-6 launched earlier this year in March.
Dave Gwaltney, left, Launch Vehicle Systems Office technical assistant and Lisa McCollum, Marshall’s Commercial Crew Program Launch Vehicle Safety Office deputy manager, hold the Crew-5 mission plaque together as they smile.
NASA/Charles Beason
Gwaltney was chosen for the support he provided as a technical assistant for LVSO on the Crew-5 mission. While hardware for the mission was in transit it was damaged. He was critical to ensuring the proper inspections and analysis were completed. He then relayed the risk assessments to the program for acceptance. Gwaltney’s expertise led him to accurately pinpoint major areas of risks and understand them for a successful mission.
“We had good communication lines and an experienced team that allowed us to be ready for what we needed to do,” Gwaltney said.
Crew-5 was the first CCP mission to be led by a female commander, Nicole Mann. Mann also became the first indigenous woman to fly with NASA. Anna Kikina became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. commercial rocket during this mission as well.
Carman was recognized for his coordination of the second launch attempt for the Crew-6 mission that took place during a severe weather warning at HOSC. Carman took preventative measures to ensure the launch was a success. He collaborated with Mission Management and Integration, HOSC personnel, and the Marshall support team. He relocated the launch operations team to the storm shelter while preserving open lines of communication.
Jonathan Carman, left, deputy SpaceX Falcon 9 lead engineer, shakes hands with McCollum before he hangs the Crew-6 mission plaque.
NASA/Charles Beason
“It’s an honor to have people count on me to take on the role and have trust in me,” Carman said. “I learned that good coordination and teamwork is always a recipe for success.”
The launch of Crew-6 was the first time a Crew Dragon capsule was reused for a fourth time. The mission also featured the first United Arab Emirates astronaut.
“Both Dave and Jonathan have consistently gone above and beyond to meet the need and make sure that the crew has a safe flight to station,” said Lisa McCollum, Marshall’s CCP LVSO deputy manager.
The second plaque hanging took place at HOSC on April 20 earlier this year. Ken Schrock, an avionics system engineer, hung the plaque for the Crew-3 mission, Patrick Mills, liquid propulsion systems engineer, hung the Crew-4 plaque, and Megan Hines, system safety engineer, hung the OFT-2 plaque.
Schrock was selected for critically assessing autonomous flight termination system test products and analyzing their reports for the Crew-3 mission. He also monitors Falcon 9 fleet launches for any issues that could be applicable to other CCP missions.
From left, Patrick Mills, liquid propulsion systems engineer, Megan Hines, systems safety engineer, and Ken Schrock, an avionics systems engineer, smile together after hanging their CCP plaques April 20.
NASA/Charles Beason
Mills was honored with a plaque hanging for his repair work on Falcon 9’s first stage booster for its fourth launch on the Crew-4 mission. After static fire, the team identified repairs that would be needed before flight. Mills played a key role in measuring the risk of the leaks caused. He led the team that decided patching them would be a suitable resolution preventing any spraying during the engine start up.
Hines was recognized for her safety and mission assurance work on the OFT-2 mission. Due to most of the team being focused on the reused components in the Crew-4 mission, Hines coordinated all the OFT-2 safety and mission assurance work. During the mission she provided support on-console during the launch. The flight met all test objectives, completing the first docking of the Starliner to the space station.
“I’m really proud of this team and how much work, heart and effort goes into each flight,” McCollum said. “It’s important for the folks across the agency and the public to know what our team is doing behind the scenes to make these missions happen.”
Smith, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
National WWII Museum Brings Valor Outreach Event to Michoud Veterans
By Heather Keller
Veterans from the multi-tenant workforce at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility attended a panel discussion featuring two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients Nov. 1 in Michoud’s Hero’s Way – a hall lined with the mission patches for every NASA mission, along with crew photos and mission details.
When the National WWII Museum in New Orleans learned they would be hosting the week-long Medal of Honor Convention in 2023, they began exploring ideas for local Valor Outreach opportunities. Michoud’s beginnings as an aircraft factory producing C-76 and C-46 cargo planes in support of WWII, in addition to its current operations supporting the space program, as well as housing multiple government agencies, including U.S. Coast Guard Base New Orleans, made it a prime location for the event.
From left, NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility Director Lonnie Dutreix, Maj. Gen. David Mize (Ret.), Col. Harvey C. “Barney” Barnum Jr. (Ret.), and Capt. Florent A. “Flo” Groberg (Ret.) participate in a panel discussion during a Valor Outreach event for veterans Nov. 1.
NASA/Michael DeMocker
“NASA Michoud is a foundation of the American space program and a marvel of scientific and engineering capability,” said event moderator and retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. David Mize, who now serves as chairman of the Mayor’s Military Advisory Committee of New Orleans. “It is truly an underappreciated American jewel.”
The event afforded a unique opportunity to the attendees to be with the “heroic unicorns of the U.S. military,” according to Mize, noting, “there are about 343 million people in the U.S. … 16.2 million living veterans … two million personnel on active and reserve duty,” yet there are only 65 living Medal of Honor recipients.
The Medal of Honor recipients, retired U.S. Army Capt. Florent Groberg and retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Harvey Barnum, Jr., visited Michoud as part of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Valor Outreach Program. They spoke of their individual experiences serving the country in combat and in their civilian life following retirement. Topics of discussion included patriotism, leadership, and a comparison between the foreign affairs from WWII to today, among others. The pair fielded questions from the audience, which was exclusively made up of Michoud veterans, and those currently serving onsite at USCG Base New Orleans.
Both panelists spoke on the weight of the medal, and the struggle of being celebrated as a war hero while their comrades gave the ultimate sacrifice.
“The medal is not ours,” said Groberg, a veteran of the War on Terrorism. “We’re recipients of the medal. We’re a courier of the medal. There’s a story behind each and every one of our medals, that include many, many other people aside from us. Now we have a platform to tell those stories.”
Groberg continued with the names of the four soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan on the day he earned his accolade, a personal mission he’s adopted to honor their memory.
Freddie Grass, left, safety manager for Boasso Construction, visits with Mize and Barnum during a factory tour at Michoud. Grass has four Purple Hearts, while Mize has the Distinguished Superior Service Medal.
NASA/Michael DeMocker
Barnum, a veteran of the Vietnam War, spoke about the 365 Medal of Honor recipients who were alive when he was decorated in 1967. At that time there were honorees who served as far back as the Banana Wars of the 1890s, who became his mentors, and taught him the importance of being a caretaker of the medal. He compared the honor to a brotherhood, saying they have all become family.
“Many of us go to the White House when a new recipient is awarded, and then we also gather at Arlington when we say ‘goodbye,’” Barnum said. “It’s the greatest fraternity that anybody could ever be a member of.”
To Groberg and Barnum, the greatest honor is knowing that their peers nominated them for the recognition, though they noted one aspect where the society falls short. “We need a woman,” Groberg said. “We had some women that went out who walked the walk with us, they fought with us, they did some incredible work, and some of them didn’t come home.”
Drawing on their experience, Groberg and Barnum urged their fellow veterans to talk about their experiences and recalled how opening up to those around them aided in both their physical and emotional recovery.
When asked if they would do it all over again by a Michoud employee, both men agreed they would, without hesitation; however, when asked if they would ever consider going to space, they had a difference of opinion.
“Not me,” Barnum said. “I’ve always wondered why people jump out of good airplanes.”
Groberg, a former Boeing employee said, “A hundred percent… this is the future …especially with ya’ll building the rockets. Count me in.”
Following the panel discussion, the Medal of Honor recipients enjoyed a lunch with Michoud leadership, a small contingency of Michoud veterans, and USCG personnel. Finishing out the day, the WW II staff and Medal of Honor recipients enjoyed a tour of America’s rocket factory while engaging MAF veterans along the tour route.
Keller, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions Inc. employee, works in communications at Michoud Assembly Facility.
Greg Chavers Named Strategic Architect, Integration Manager of Marshall’s Science and Technology Office
Greg Chavers has been named as the strategic architect and integration manager in the Science and Technology Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Chavers is returning to Marshall following his role as Mars Campaign Office director in the Moon to Mars Program Office, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters from April to November 2023. In that role, he led risk reduction and technology development of systems that will lead to human Mars missions. The technologies are being demonstrated on the ground, in Low Earth orbit on the International Space Station, and will be demonstrated on the Moon on future Artemis missions.
Greg Chavers, strategic architect and integration manager in the Science and Technology Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
NASA
Before leading the Mars Campaign Office, Chavers was director of the Technical Integration Office at headquarters, starting in 2022. In that role, he led an office consisting of about 70 civil servants and more than 50 support contractors including senior leaders and executives that influence the investments of multi-billions of dollars across all human spaceflight destinations.
In 2020, he was appointed assistant deputy associate administrator for the Human Explorations Office, Systems Engineering and Integration, also at headquarters. From 2019-2020, Chavers was deputy program manager for HLS (Human Lander Systems) at Marshall. He was formulation manager at headquarters for HLS from 2018-2019. In 2012, Chavers was named Lander Technologies project manager.
He joined NASA in 1991 in the Systems Analysis and Integration Lab in Marshall’s Engineering Directorate. Chavers spent more than 20 years in the Engineering Directorate before transitioning to project management in Marshall’s flight projects office.
A native of Flomaton, Alabama, Chavers received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace from Auburn University, and a master’s in astrophysics and a doctorate in physics from the University of Alabama.
He and his wife of 33 years, Denise, live in Decatur. They have three children and two grandchildren.
Rocket Exhaust on the Moon: NASA Supercomputers Reveal Surface Effects
Through Artemis, NASA plans to explore more of the Moon than ever before with human and robotic missions on the lunar surface. Because future landers will be larger and equipped with more powerful engines than the Apollo landers, mission risks associated with their operation during landing and liftoff is significantly greater. With the agency’s goal to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, mission planners must understand how future landers interact with the lunar surface as they touch down in unexplored moonscapes.
Landing on the Moon is tricky. When missions fly crew and payloads to the lunar surface, spacecraft control their descent by firing rocket engines to counteract the Moon’s gravitational pull. This happens in an extreme environment that’s hard to replicate and test on Earth, namely, a combination of low gravity, no atmosphere, and the unique properties of lunar regolith – the layer of fine, loose dust and rock on the Moon’s surface.
Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center produced a simulation of the Apollo 12 lander engine plumes interacting with the lunar surface. This animation depicts the last half-minute of descent before engine cut-off, showing the predicted forces exerted by plumes on a flat computational surface. Known as shear stress, this is the amount of lateral, or sideways, force applied over a set area, and it is the leading cause of erosion as fluids flow across a surface. Here, the fluctuating radial patterns show the intensity of predicted shear stress. Lower shear stress is dark purple, and higher shear stress is yellow. (NASA/Patrick Moran and Andrew Weaver)
Each time a spacecraft lands or lifts off, its engines blast supersonic plumes of hot gas toward the surface and the intense forces kick up dust and eject rocks or other debris at high speeds. This can cause hazards like visual obstructions and dust clouds that can interfere with navigation and science instrumentation or cause damage to the lander and other nearby hardware and structures. Additionally, the plumes can erode the surface under the lander. Although craters were not formed for Apollo-scale landers, it is unknown how much the larger landers being planned for upcoming Artemis missions will erode the surface and whether they will rapidly cause cratering in the landing zone, posing a risk to the lander’s stability and astronauts aboard.
To improve its understanding of plume-surface interactions, also known as PSI, researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have developed new software tools to predict PSI environments for NASA projects and missions, including the Human Landing System, Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, and future Mars landers. These tools are already being used to predict cratering and visual obscuration on upcoming lunar missions and are helping NASA minimize risks to spacecraft and crew during future landed missions.
The team at Marshall recently produced a simulation of the Apollo 12 lander engine plumes interacting with the surface and the predicted erosion that closely matched what happened during landing. This animation depicts the last half-minute of descent before engine cut-off, showing the predicted forces exerted by plumes on a flat computational surface. Known as shear stress, this is the amount of lateral, or sideways, force applied over a set area, and it is the leading cause of erosion as fluids flow across a surface. Here, the fluctuating radial patterns show the intensity of predicted shear stress. Lower shear stress is dark purple, and higher shear stress is yellow.
These simulations were run on the Pleaides supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center over several weeks of runtime, generating terabytes of data.
NASA is showcasing 42 of the agency’s computational achievements at SC23, the international supercomputing conference, Nov. 12-17, in Denver, Colorado. For more technical information, visit: https://www.nas.nasa.gov/sc23.
Used for this research, the framework for the Descent Interpolated Gas Granular Erosion Model, or DIGGEM, was funded through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program within NASA’s STMD (Space Technology Mission Directorate) in Washington, and by the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies project that is managed by NASA’s Langley Research Center, also funded by STMD. The Loci/CHEM+DIGGEM code was further refined through direct support for flight projects within the Human Landing System program funded by NASA’s ESDMD (Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate) in Washington as well as the Strategy and Architecture Office in ESDMD.
As a child, Eric Bordelon had posters of the space shuttle in his room. Now, he takes photos and video for NASA as a multimedia specialist at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Known as NASA’s Rocket Factory, the site is where structures for NASA’s Apollo, shuttle, and now, NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft are produced for Artemis missions.
Bordelon joined the NASA team in 2007 working with the external tank program for the space shuttle at Michoud. One of Bordelon’s favorite aspects of the job is being a part of the storytelling involving Michoud’s rich history, including documenting the facility transition from the Space Shuttle Program to the SLS Program.
Eric Bordelon, a multimedia specialist at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, stands in front of a weld confidence article that forms part of the liquid oxygen tank for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s future exploration upper stage.
NASA/Steven Seipel
“Many people don’t realize that Michoud has been around since the 40s and NASA has been here since the 60s,” Bordelon said. “A part of my job I really love is meeting and taking photos of the people working behind the scenes on the rocket. They’re turning bolts, welding, spraying foam, and are artists in their own way. One of my goals is to learn what each of these people do, so I can help tell their stories.”
Bordelon grew up in Destrehan, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, and initially dreamed about being a sound recording engineer. He attended Loyola University New Orleans where he studied music business but soon after went to work for a print shop. During his time there, he met several photographers and soon picked up a new hobby: photography. He purchased his first digital camera in 2005 and started taking photos around New Orleans. When the job at NASA opened, he decided to see if that hobby could turn into a career.
Fast forward to 2022: That young boy with space posters on his wall grew up to be a part of the Artemis Generation. Though he had been capturing how rockets came together for years at Michoud, Bordelon had not seen a launch. That changed in 2022 with Artemis I. Not only did Bordelon watch his first launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, but he also photographed and documented it for NASA.
“I watched this powerful rocket’s core stage be built at Michoud,” Bordelon said. “When I first saw the SLS rocket fully assembled with Orion atop, sitting on the launch pad ready for its inaugural flight for Artemis I, I had to pause, take a minute, and revel in just how amazing it was to be a small part of that.”
During Artemis I launch activities in 2022, he captured a stunning photo of the Sun behind the SLS rocket as a Florida storm rolled in. The photo – with its purple, pink, and orange hues – was selected for one of NASA’s “Picture of the Year” awards.
Arkansas City Welcomes Marshall to Discuss 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
The contiguous United States will see only one total solar eclipse between now and the year 2044, and the citizens of Russellville, Arkansas, are ready.
On Monday, April 8, 2024, the Moon will pass between the Sun and Earth, providing an opportunity for those in the path of the Moon’s shadow to see a total solar eclipse, including the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. With more than 100,000 tourists expected to visit Russellville for this rare experience, elected officials and industry leaders hosted a team of NASA experts from Marshall Space Flight Center to discuss educational outreach opportunities.
More than 1,000 people attended a free solar eclipse presentation in Russellville, Arkansas, featuring experts from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Oct. 30.
Joshua Mashon
“Having NASA involved elevates the importance of this eclipse and amplifies the excitement for our community,” said Russellville Mayor Fred Teague. “We are thankful for the rich discussions and insight provided by NASA, and we look forward to hosting them again during the April eclipse.”
Due to the length of the eclipse totality in Russellville, NASA is planning to host part of the agency’s live television broadcast from the city, as well as conduct several scientific presentations and public outreach events for visitors. Additional factors for selecting Russellville included access to a large university, and proximity to Little Rock – the state’s capital – to engage media outlets and key stakeholders representing industry and academia.
The day-long Oct. 30 visit helped NASA learn how the city is preparing for the massive influx of tourists and news media personnel. Christie Graham, director of Russellville Tourism, explained the city’s commitment to the eclipse and how their planning processes started more than a year in advance.
“Months ago, we created our solar eclipse outreach committee, consisting of key stakeholders and thought leaders from across the city,” Graham said. “We’ve developed advanced communication and emergency management plans which will maximize our city’s resources and ensure everyone has a safe and memorable viewing experience.”
Adam Kobelski, a solar astrophysicist with Marshall, shares tips to safely view a total solar eclipse. Many U.S. cities, including Russellville, Arkansas, are planning watch parties to view the April 2024 total solar eclipse.
Joshua Mashon
This visit also provided NASA an opportunity to share important heliophysics messaging with the public, including the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. To learn how best to interact with local students, Marshall team members met with the Russellville School District Superintendent Ginni McDonald and Arkansas Tech University Acting Interim President Russell Jones.
“Leveraging the eclipse to provide quality learning opportunities will be a valuable and unforgettable experience for all,” McDonald said. “Our staff enjoyed discussing best strategies and look forward to sharing NASA educational content with our students.”
The team also discussed internship opportunities available for students to work at NASA centers across the nation, as well as how to get involved in NASA’s Artemis student challenges, sophisticated engineering design challenges available for middle school, high school, college and university students.
“Our university serves nearly 10,000 students, many pursuing a variety of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) degrees, including mechanical and electrical engineering, biological and computer sciences, nursing, and more,” Jones said. “It is important our students learn of the many unique opportunities available with NASA and how they can get involved.”
Following the NASA public presentation about the April 2024 total solar eclipse, Kobelski chats with guests interested in learning more about NASA and heliophysics.
NASA/Christopher Blair
The agency’s visit concluded with a free public presentation at The Center for The Arts, where more than 1,000 attendees gained insight on the upcoming eclipse from Dr. Adam Kobelski, a solar astrophysicist at Marshall. Following the presentation, Marshall team members participated in a question-and-answer session with audience members of all ages.
Overall, the visit proved valuable for everyone with NASA team members remarking how enthusiastic and prepared both Russellville and the university are to support the eclipse event.
“It was a refreshing reminder of the public’s excitement for the science we conduct at NASA,” Kobelski said. “This experience established my overall confidence in their readiness to successfully host a quality viewing experience for everyone.”
The April eclipse is part of the Heliophysics Big Year, a global celebration of solar science and the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system. Everyone is encouraged to participate in solar science events such as watching solar eclipses, experiencing an aurora, participating in citizen science projects, and other fun Sun-related activities.
Cities across the nation are planning eclipse watch parties and other celebrations to commemorate the event. Weather permitting, the April 2024 total eclipse will be visible across 13 states, from Texas to New York.
NASA Project Manager Helps Makes Impact in Southeast Asia with SERVIR
By Celine Smith
“As the seedlings were placed in the water, I felt a moment of déjà vu,” NASA scientist Tony Kim said. “I was taken back to when I was a child playing in similar fields in South Korea. It felt like I was meant to be there bringing space to village with satellite data.”
As he looked at rice fields while visiting Bhutan in September 2023, Kim savored the chance to do something meaningful across Southeast Asia and also in his native country. Having seen his childhood home turn from rice fields to a city, Kim knows the importance of sustainably using the land.
Tony Kim in South Korea’s Songdo Central Park standing in front of the statue “Cruising Together” created by Han Jeong-ho.
NASA/Tony Kim
In Bhutan, Kim and research partners are identifying rice paddies, estimating crop production, predicting shortages, and gauging the health of each harvest. He represents NASA as an international project manager for SERVIR, a partnership between NASA and USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development). It is a flagship program for Earth Action in NASA’s Earth Sciences Division, created in 2005 and rooted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
SERVIR – which means “to serve” in Spanish – aids more than 50 nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America in their efforts to address issues like food and water security, droughts, and the negative effects of climate change. SERVIR assists regional, national, and local institutions by using NASA satellite data, models, and products to manage resources sustainably.
NASA and USAID launched its SERVIR Mekong hub in 2015 at the ADPC(Asian Disaster Preparedness Center) in Bangkok, Thailand. The hub has been renamed SERVIR Southeast Asia as of this year. Other SERVIR hubs are in the Himalayas, West Africa, and the Amazon.
In addition to Bhutan, Kim also traveled back home to Seoul, South Korea – nearly 20 years since his last visit – to represent SERVIR Southeast Asia. “When I went back to Korea, I felt like a kid going back in time,” Kim said.
Kim, back row fifth from the right, pictured with other attendees during the 2023 PEER (Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research) Bhutan Symposium where Bhutanese scientists funded by USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development). present their research. Kim’s presentation was, “Advancing STEM in Bhutan through Increased Earth Observation Capacity.”
Royal Society for Protection of Nature Bhutan
The USAID RDMA (Regional Development Mission for Asia), which funds SERVIR Southeast Asia requested Kim’s presence for a meeting with Korean leaders. He discussed the value of NASA satellite data for environmental decision-making with the Korean Ministry of Environment and USAID RDMA, as well as opportunities for collaboration to solve water issues in the Indo-Pacific region and natural resource management in the Lower Mekong sub-region.
“Korea recovered from war in the 1950’s and developed very quickly as a powerhouse for technology products. Now Korea is helping other developing countries in Asia,” Kim said. “I am so proud of my home country and my adopted country (through NASA) helping people around the world to use satellite data in productive ways.”
Kim was eight years old in 1974 when his family moved from the southern edge of Seoul to the suburbs of Chicago. “Our parents immigrated to the United States to give us the opportunity to better ourselves through education,” he said. After high school, he went to the University of Illinois, where he pursued a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. After graduation, he joined Marshall as a propulsion engineer, testing cryogenic fluid management techniques for advanced rocket propulsion systems.
From there, Kim’s 33-year NASA journey led him through a variety of roles. He served in 1992 as an operations controller for two Spacelab missions. In 1996, he led an operation team for the International Space Station Furnace Facility. From 1998-2001, he was a payload operations manager for space station science payloads.
Tony Kim, SERVIR Science Coordination Office project manager, International Flagship Program for Earth Action.
NASA
Marshall selected Kim to study at Auburn University in 1997, where he earned his master’s degree in material science. Afterwards, Kim attended the International Space University. Then, he led the ALTUS Cumulus Electrification Study, where an uninhabited aerial vehicle was used to study lightning during a thunderstorm.
Kim was selected in 2003 for the NASA Administrator’s Fellowship Program to teach a design engineering course at Texas A&M in Kingsville for one year. He spent the next year at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Kim returned to Marshall as a deep throttling rocket engine technology manager and then deputy manager for advanced nuclear thermal propulsion technology development.
In 2016, Kim served as deputy program manager for Centennial Challenges, NASA’s premier, large-prize program. Kim worked with Bradley University and Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois, to conduct NASA’s 3D-printed Habitat Challenge.
“SERVIR was the only organization that could have taken me away from Centennial Challenges,” Kim said.
Kim and his wife, Sonya, live in Huntsville, Alabama, and have three grown children. He said the lessons his parents imparted remain as true today as when he was a small child.
“They taught us to work hard, keep your commitments, and care about what you do and the people you do it with,” he said. “If you do those things, you’ll find success.”Smith, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.
Juno Finds Jupiter’s Winds Penetrate in Cylindrical Layers
Gravity data collected by NASA’s Juno mission indicates Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner, parallel to its spin axis. A paper on the findings was recently published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The violent nature of Jupiter’s roiling atmosphere has long been a source of fascination for astronomers and planetary scientists, and Juno has had a ringside seat to the goings-on since it entered orbit in 2016. During each of the spacecraft’s 55 to date, a suite of science instruments has peered below Jupiter’s turbulent cloud deck to uncover how the gas giant works from the inside out.
NASA’s Juno captured this view of Jupiter during the mission’s 54th close flyby of the giant planet on Sept. 7. The image was made with raw data from the JunoCam instrument that was processed to enhance details in cloud features and colors.
Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Tanya Oleksuik CC BY NC SA 3.0
One way the Juno mission learns about the planet’s interior is via radio science. Using NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas, scientists track the spacecraft’s radio signal as Juno flies past Jupiter at speeds near 130,000 mph, measuring tiny changes in its velocity – as small as 0.01 millimeter per second. Those changes are caused by variations in the planet’s gravity field, and by measuring them, the mission can essentially see into Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Such measurements have led to numerous discoveries, including the existence of a dilute core deep within Jupiter and the depth of the planet’s zones and belts, which extend from the cloud tops down approximately 1,860 miles.
To determine the location and cylindrical nature of the winds, the study’s authors applied a mathematical technique that models gravitational variations and surface elevations of rocky planets like Earth. At Jupiter, the technique can be used to accurately map winds at depth. Using the high-precision Juno data, the authors were able to generate a four-fold increase in the resolution over previous models created with data from NASA’s trailblazing Jovian explorers Voyager and Galileo.
“We applied a constraining technique developed for sparse data sets on terrestrial planets to process the Juno data,” said Ryan Park, a Juno scientist and lead of the mission’s gravity science investigation from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This is the first time such a technique has been applied to an outer planet.”
The measurements of the gravity field matched a two-decade-old model that determined Jupiter’s powerful east-west zonal flows extend from the cloud-level white and red zones and belts inward. But the measurements also revealed that rather than extending in every direction like a radiating sphere, the zonal flows go inward, cylindrically, and are oriented along the direction of Jupiter’s rotation axis. How Jupiter’s deep atmospheric winds are structured has been in debated since the 1970s, and the Juno mission has now settled the debate.
This illustration depicts findings that Jupiter’s atmospheric winds penetrate the planet in a cylindrical manner and parallel to its spin axis. The most dominant jet recorded by NASA’s Juno is shown in the cutout: The jet is at 21 degrees north latitude at cloud level, but 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) below that, it’s at 13 degrees north latitude.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/SWRI/MSSS/ASI/ INAF/JIRAM/Björn Jónsson CC BY 3.0
“All 40 gravity coefficients measured by Juno matched our previous calculations of what we expect the gravity field to be if the winds penetrate inward on cylinders,” said Yohai Kaspi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, the study’s lead author and a Juno co-investigator. “When we realized all 40 numbers exactly match our calculations, it felt like winning the lottery.”
Along with bettering the current understanding of Jupiter’s internal structure and origin, the new gravity model application could be used to gain more insight into other planetary atmospheres.
Juno is currently in an extended mission. Along with flybys of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft has completed a series of flybys of the planet’s icy moons Ganymede and Europa and is in the midst of several close flybys of Io. The Dec. 30 flyby of Io will be the closest to date, coming within about 930 miles of its volcano-festooned surface.
“As Juno’s journey progresses, we’re achieving scientific outcomes that truly define a new Jupiter and that likely are relevant for all giant planets, both within our solar system and beyond,” said Scott Bolton, the principal investigator of the Juno mission at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “The resolution of the newly determined gravity field is remarkably similar to the accuracy we estimated 20 years ago. It is great to see such agreement between our prediction and our results.”
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech, 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 for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
