Time Is Running Out to Add Your Name to NASA’s Europa Clipper

Six weeks remain for you to add your name to a microchip that will ride aboard the spacecraft as it explores Jupiter’s moon Europa.

It’s not every day that members of the public have the chance to send their names into deep space beyond Mars, all the way to Jupiter and its moon Europa. But with NASA’s Europa Clipper, you have that opportunity: Names will ride aboard the spacecraft as it journeys 1.8 billion miles (2.6 billion kilometers) to this icy moon, where an ocean hides beneath a frozen outer shell. The deadline to join the mission’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign is only six weeks away. The campaign closes at 11:59 p.m. EST, Dec. 31, 2023.

So far, about 700,000 names have been submitted. Once all the names have been gathered, technicians in the Microdevices Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will use an electron beam to stencil them onto a dime-size silicon microchip. Each line of text is smaller than 1/1000th the width of a human hair (75 nanometers).

The chip will be attached to a metal plate engraved with the original poem “In Praise of Mystery,” written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to celebrate the mission. Riding on the exterior of the spacecraft, the poem and names will be like a message in a bottle as they make about 50 close flybys of the ocean world.

The mission will log a half-billion miles (800 million kilometers) during these orbits as the spacecraft’s payload of science instruments gathers data on Europa’s subsurface ocean, icy crust, and atmosphere to determine if the moon could support life.

Once assembly of Europa Clipper has been completed at JPL, the orbiter will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its October 2024 launch.

“Message in a Bottle” draws from NASA’s long tradition of shipping inspirational messages on spacecraft that have explored our solar system and beyond. The program aims to spark the imaginations of people around the world as the Voyager spacecraft did in 1977 by sending a time capsule of sounds and images reflecting the diversity of life on Earth.

To sign, read the poem, and hear Limón recite it in an animated video, go to:

https://go.nasa.gov/MessageInABottle

The site also enables participants to create and download a customizable souvenir – an illustration of your name on a message in a bottle against a rendering of Europa and Jupiter – to commemorate the experience. Participants are encouraged to share their enthusiasm on social media using the hashtag #SendYourName.

More About the Mission

Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Find more information about Europa here:

europa.nasa.gov

News Media Contacts

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@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

2023-166

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Anthony Greicius

NASA’s Launch Services Program Selects New Launch Director

NASA has named Denton Gibson launch director for the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Gibson fills a position made available with the recent retirement of former senior Launch Director Omar Baez. Denton will join senior Launch Director Tim Dunn in leading launch activities for NASA’s science and robotic missions. This team is responsible for planning, implementing, and directing launch campaigns for NASA-managed launch vehicle services.

“The Launch Services Program is looking forward to having Denton in his new role as launch director,” Amanda Mitskevich, program manager of the Launch Services Program said. “He has contributed his talents in several technical and programmatic areas for NASA and now his experience will culminate in leading the team that will be launching some of NASA’s most important and valuable missions.  He’s going to be great at it!”

Gibson began his career at Kennedy with NASA’s Launch Services Program in 2004, most recently serving as a senior mission manager. His experience involved serving as the primary interface between the program and customers from other NASA centers, federal agencies, federally funded science organizations, as well as international partners.

“As a launch director, the responsibility for the entire mission falls to you when you give the final ‘go’ for launch,” Gibson said. “However, our meticulous preparations that begin years before the rocket is on the pad, and the amazing team we have, instill that confidence to say NASA is ready to launch.”

Previous roles with the program have helped prepare Gibson for his new responsibilities. As a senior vehicle systems engineer discipline expert, Gibson led the program’s engineering team and was responsible for oversight and insight of a mixed fleet of commercial rockets. He expanded his leadership skills and industry experience during a detail assignment in 2016 to the U.S. Senate’s Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee staff working on U.S. space policy.

Gibson earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Florida in Gainesville. He received a master’s in industrial engineering in 2006 from the University of Miami and a doctorate in systems engineering in 2019 from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

“Denton has accumulated knowledge of launch operations from his years of working advanced planning through integration, systems analysis, and launch” Dunn said. “His ability to ensure the readiness of spacecraft and rockets, as well as handling unique mission challenges that pop up, make him ready to lead the team on launch day.”

Dunn and Gibson will be sharing the responsibilities for launching missions in 2024, including NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean Ecosystem); GOES-U, NOAA’s latest generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites; and NASA’s Europa Clipper, which will explore Jupiter’s icy moon and determine if it harbors conditions suitable for life. Gibson was born in Nassau, Bahamas, but considers Miami, Florida, where he grew up, to be his hometown.

When Denton is not planning, implementing, and directing launch campaigns he enjoys building cars, scuba diving, working out and spending time with his daughter Phenix. He also is a professional salsa dancer, instructor, and choreographer.

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Jim Cawley

NASA Astronaut to Speak with Florida Students from Space Station

Students from the Creative Learning Academy in Pensacola, Florida, will have an opportunity this week to hear from a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station.

The space-to-Earth call will air live at 9:30 a.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 15. Watch the NASA+ streaming service at no cost on demand. The briefing also will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and on the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will answer prerecorded questions from students attending Creative Learning Academy. The school will use this interaction with the station crew to inspire students and reinforce classroom STEM efforts.

Media interested in covering the event should contact Amy Parker no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 14 at aparker@creativelearningacademy.org or 850-748-2542.

For 23 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked aboard the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Astronauts living in space aboard the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Near Space Network.

Important research and technology investigations taking place aboard the International Space Station benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration.

As part of Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the space station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

-end-

Katherine Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1288
katherine.m.brown@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones 
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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Abbey A. Donaldson

NASA’s Mars Fleet Will Still Conduct Science While Lying Low

Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet.

NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the Red Planet are on opposite sides of the Sun. Called Mars solar conjunction, this phenomenon happens every two years. The missions pause because hot, ionized gas expelled from the Sun’s corona could potentially corrupt radio signals sent from Earth to NASA’s Mars spacecraft, leading to unexpected behaviors.

That’s not to say those robotic explorers are on holiday. NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers will monitor changes in surface conditions, weather, and radiation as they stay parked. Although momentarily grounded, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will use its color camera to study the movement of sand, which poses an ever-present challenge to Mars missions. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Odyssey orbiter will continue imaging the surface. And MAVEN will continue collecting data on interactions between the atmosphere and the Sun.

While NASA usually receives health updates from the Mars fleet throughout conjunction, there will be two days when the agency will not hear from it because the Red Planet will be fully behind the disk of the Sun.

Once the moratorium (as the communications pause is known) ends, the orbiters will relay all the pending science data to Earth, and the spacecraft can begin receiving instructions again.

“Our mission teams have spent months preparing to-do lists for all our Mars spacecraft,” said Roy Gladden, manager of the Mars Relay Network at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We’ll still be able to hear from them and check their states of health over the next few weeks.”

For more about NASA’s Mars missions, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/

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

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Investigations launching aboard SpaceX-29 will help humans go farther and stay longer in space

The SpaceX-29 commercial resupply spacecraft will deliver numerous physical sciences and space biology experiments, along with other cargo, to the International Space Station. The research aboard this resupply services mission will help researchers learn how humans, and the plants needed to sustain them, can thrive in deep space.

The biological and physical sciences investigations headed to the Space Station are:

Plant Water Management-5 and 6 (PWM-5 and 6)

NASA has grown plants on the Space Station even without the help of gravity. But microgravity does present challenges and affects Space Station plants’ ability to receive adequate hydration and nutrition. The Plant Water Management-5 and 6 (PWM-5 and 6) investigation uses the physical properties of fluids, such as surface tension and wetting, as a mechanism to provide hydration and aeration for plants. Results could advance understanding of the physical aspects of fluid flow and inform designs of fluid delivery systems for reduced gravity environments.

Plant Habitat-06 (PH-06)

Plant Habitat-06 investigates whether the spaceflight environment affects the ability of tomato plants to defend themselves against disease-causing microorganisms. The study will investigate whether a hormone called salicylic acid is involved in processes that regulate plant immune system function in microgravity. Results could support the development of strategies to minimize crop loss and low produce quality in future space agricultural settings caused by harmful microbes.

Rodent Research-20 (RR-20)

Extended missions to the Moon and Mars require a critical understanding on the impact of spaceflight to reproductive health for female astronauts. Throughout the course of three shuttle missions, alterations in ovarian function were detected in female mice that could potentially lead to fertility issues. This latest mission to the International Space Station (RR-20) will further probe whether space-flown female mice have temporary or permanent alterations to their reproductive capability and whether dysfunctional hormone signaling is linked with bone loss.

Bacterial Adhesion and Corrosion (BAC)

Polymicrobial Biofilm Growth and Control during Spaceflight, Bacterial Adhesion and Corrosion (BAC) is a joint space biology and physical sciences payload that explores conditions of multi-species biofilms in microgravity. Microorganisms in biofilms can become resistant to traditional cleaning chemicals, leading to contamination of water treatment systems and potential health risks to astronauts. This investigation identifies bacterial genes used during biofilm growth and examines whether these biofilms can corrode stainless steel, in addition to evaluating the effectiveness of silver-based disinfectants.

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