On October 14, 2023, the Moon aligned with the Sun and Earth to produce an annular solar eclipse. The spectacle bathed millions of Americans in a lunar shadow as the Moon blocked the Sun’s rays. The above image was acquired during the eclipse by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera imager aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory, a joint NASA, NOAA, and U.S. Air Force satellite.
NASA
NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) captured the lunar shadow during the Oct. 14 annular solar eclipse. The sensor provides frequent global views of Earth from its position at Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally stable point between the Sun and Earth about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
DSCOVR is a space weather station that monitors changes in the solar wind, providing space weather alerts and forecasts for geomagnetic storms that could disrupt power grids, satellites, telecommunications, aviation and GPS.
NASA’s Innovative Rocket Nozzle Paves Way for Deep Space Missions
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NASA’s Innovative Rocket Nozzle Paves Way for Deep Space Missions
The RAMFIRE nozzle performs a hot fire test at Marshall’s East test area stand 115. The nozzle, made of the novel aluminum alloy 6061-RAM2, experiences huge temperature gradients. As hot gasses approach 6000 degrees Fahrenheit and undergo combustion, icicles are forming on the outside of the engine nozzle.
Credits: NASA
By Ray Osorio
NASA recently built and tested an additively-manufactured – or 3D printed – rocket engine nozzle made of aluminum, making it lighter than conventional nozzles and setting the course for deep space flights that can carry more payloads.
Under the agency’s Announcement of Collaborative Opportunity, engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, partnered with Elementum 3D, in Erie, Colorado, to create a weldable type of aluminum that is heat resistant enough for use on rocket engines. Compared to other metals, aluminum is lower density and allows for high-strength, lightweight components.
However, due to its low tolerance to extreme heat and its tendency to crack during welding, aluminum is not typically used for additive manufacturing of rocket engine parts – until now.
Meet NASA’s latest development under the Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or RAMFIRE, project. Funded under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), RAMFIRE focuses on advancing lightweight, additively manufactured aluminum rocket nozzles. The nozzles are designed with small internal channels that keep the nozzle cool enough to prevent melting.
At the RPM Innovation (RPMI) facility in Rapid City, South Dakota, manufacturing for a large-scale aerospike demonstration nozzle with integral channels is underway. The laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) process creates a melt pool using a laser and blows powder into the melt pool to deposit material layer by layer. NASA engineers will use the nozzle as a proof of concept to inform future component designs.
RPM Innovation
With conventional manufacturing methods, a nozzle may require as many as thousand individually joined parts. The RAMFIRE nozzle is built as a single piece, requiring far fewer bonds and significantly reduced manufacturing time.
NASA and Elementum 3D first developed the novel aluminum variant known as A6061-RAM2 to build the nozzle and modify the powder used with laser powder directed energy deposition (LP-DED) technology. Another commercial partner, RPM Innovations (RPMI) in Rapid City, South Dakota, used the newly invented aluminum and specialized powder to build the RAMFIRE nozzles using their LP-DED process.
“Industry partnerships with specialty manufacturing vendors aid in advancing the supply base and help make additive manufacturing more accessible for NASA missions and the broader commercial and aerospace industry,” Paul Gradl, RAMFIRE principal investigator at NASA Marshall, said.
We’ve reduced the steps involved in the manufacturing process, allowing us to make large-scale engine components as a single build in a matter of days.
Paul Gradl
RAMFIRE Principal Investigator
NASA’s Moon to Mars objectives require the capability to send more cargo to deep space destinations. The novel alloy could play an instrumental role in this by enabling the manufacturing of lightweight rocket components capable of withstanding high structural loads.
Seen here at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and developed with the same 6061-RAM2 aluminum material used under the RAMFIRE project, is a vacuum jacket manufacturing demonstrator tank. The component, made for cryogenic fluid application, is designed with a series of integral cooling channels that have a wall thickness of about 0.06 inches.
NASA
“Mass is critical for NASA’s future deep space missions,” said John Vickers, principal technologist for STMD advanced manufacturing. “Projects like this mature additive manufacturing along with advanced materials, and will help evolve new propulsion systems, in-space manufacturing, and infrastructure needed for NASA’s ambitious missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
Earlier this summer at Marshall’s East Test Area, two RAMFIRE nozzles completed multiple hot-fire tests using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, as well as liquid oxygen and liquid methane fuel configurations. With pressure chambers in excess of 825 pounds per square inch (psi) – more than anticipated testing pressures – the nozzles successfully accumulated 22 starts and 579 seconds, or nearly 10 minutes, of run time. This event demonstrates the nozzles can operate in the most demanding deep-space environments.
NASA Engineers, Tessa Fedotowsky and Ben Williams, from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, inspect the RAMFIRE nozzle following successful hot-fire testing.
NASA
“This test series marks a significant milestone for the nozzle,” Gradl said. “After putting the nozzle through the paces of a demanding hot-fire test series, we’ve demonstrated the nozzle can survive the thermal, structural, and pressure loads for a lunar lander scale engine.”
In addition to successfully building and testing the rocket engine nozzles, the RAMFIRE project has used the RAMFIRE aluminum material and additive manufacturing process to construct other advanced large components for demonstration purposes. These include a 36-inch diameter aerospike nozzle with complex integral coolant channels and a vacuum-jacketed tank for cryogenic fluid applications.
NASA and industry partners are working to share the data and process with commercial stakeholders and academia. Various aerospace companies are evaluating the novel alloy and the LP-DED additive manufacturing process and looking for ways it can be used to make components for satellites and other applications.
Watch Live as NASA Astronauts Conduct Spacewalk, Upgrade Space Station
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli (center) assists astronauts Andreas Mogensen (left) from ESA (European Space Agency) and Loral O’Hara (right) from NASA as they try on their spacesuits and test the suits’ components aboard the International Space Station’s Quest airlock in preparation for an upcoming spacewalk.
NASA
Two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct a spacewalk Monday, Oct. 30, to complete maintenance activities at the orbital complex.
Live coverage of the spacewalk begins at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin about 8:05 a.m., and last about six-and-a-half hours.
NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara will exit the station’s Quest airlock to remove an electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group from a communications antenna on station. They also will replace one of 12 trundle bearing assemblies on a solar alpha rotary joint. The bearings enable the station’s solar arrays to rotate properly to track the Sun as the station orbits the Earth. When looking at the space station, the antenna is on the starboard (right side) truss, and the rotary joint is on the port, or left side.
U.S. spacewalk 89 will be the first for both Moghbeli and O’Hara. Moghbeli will serve as extravehicular activity crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. O’Hara will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit.
Station managers continue planning for another spacewalk with O’Hara, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, to collect samples for analysis to see whether microorganisms may exist on the exterior of the orbital complex. That spacewalk, which now is U.S. spacewalk 90, has been postponed to no earlier than December.
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Meet Tracy Hudspeth: Communications Specialist at NASA Office of Small Business Programs
As another inspiring Hispanic Heritage Month concludes, we wanted to take the moment to highlight one of our own, Tracy Hudspeth. Tracy Hudspeth is the Communication Specialist at NASA Office of Small Business Programs. She plays a pivotal role in shaping the organization’s public image and ensuring effective communication internally and externally.
National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States. How do you feel about being part of this celebration, especially in the context of your work with NASA?
I’m honored to be recognized in this celebration as an Afro-Latina working for NASA. In this position, I have the pleasure of planning our monthly Learning Series and quarterly Outreach Events. I take pride in the fact that we create events that provide resources and help to promote the growth and development of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States. This is personal to me because several members of my family, including my mom, utilized available programs and resources to start their businesses.
Can you share an exciting project you recently worked on?
All of my projects have been exciting but if I had to choose, I would say the NASA Small Business Opportunities and Resources Networking Conference which took place on Wednesday, October 11th!
Who inspires you?
All the women in my family. I come from a long line of strong women. Their traits include being self-confident, productive, optimistic, caring, fearless women who stand up for what they believe in and unbothered by what others say or think. They have always inspired me to be true to myself and a go-getter!
Do you have a favorite memory where you most strongly felt a sense of community?
I recently attended a block party in my old neighborhood. This event is special to me because my son who was 5 at the time came up with the idea of having an “outside party” after having a conversation with an original homeowner who had been living there since the 1960’s. With the assistance of our neighbors, my son’s dream of bringing the block party back to life came true and they have continued the tradition ever since. It was wonderful to attend this year to see the community come together to celebrate and fellowship.
Editor: Maliya Malik, NASA Office Of Small Business Programs Intern
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