May 14, 2024

This Week @NASA: Artemis I Moon Mission, Cosmic Cannibalism, Hypersonic Inflatable Aeroshell

The Next Prelaunch Rehearsal Test for Artemis I Moon Mission
NASA is targeting June 18th for the start of the next wet dress wedding rehearsal test with our Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rehearsal is the last test required before the launch of the uncrewed Artemis I objective around the Moon.
The test includes an around two-day countdown, during which the launch teams will practice the operations, timelines, and procedures that they will follow for the actual launch.
This illustration shows a white dwarf star siphoning off particles from shattered things in a planetary system. The Hubble Space Telescope detects the spectral signature of the vaporized debris that revealed a combination of rocky-metallic and icy material, the ingredients of worlds. The findings help describe the violent nature of progressed planetary systems and the structure of their disintegrating bodies. Credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI).
NASA News at American Astronomical Society Meeting.
News about NASA missions at the 240th conference of the American Astronomical Society consisted of astronomers utilizing information from our Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA observatories to see, for the very first time, a dead star called a white dwarf taking in both rocky-metallic and icy material, the components of worlds.
This circumstances of cosmic cannibalism can help astronomers learn more about the makeup of recently forming systems.
Also gone over, the potential of NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The telescopes unmatched field of vision will make it possible to study stellar streams in a great deal of galaxies for the very first time.
Astronomers can utilize these observations to better understand how galaxies grow and the nature of dark matter.
An artists rendering of the JPSS-2 satellite, which will be renamed NOAA-21 as soon as in orbit. Credit: NOAA.
NASA Completes Critical Testing for Earth Observing Satellite.
The Joint Polar Satellite System-2 satellite, or JPSS-2 that NASA is developing for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently completed its thermal vacuum screening.
The important test is indicated to show that the spacecraft and its instruments can perform successfully in the extreme environment of space.
JPSS-2 is targeted for launch on November 1st from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The satellite will offer data to help improve our understanding of severe weather and climate change.
A major design of the inflated aeroshell for NASAs Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is shown at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman.
NASA Showcases Inflatable Heat Shield Before Spaceflight Demo.
NASAs Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID will ride to area on the JPSS-2 launch as a secondary payload.
LOFTID is a demonstration of a hypersonic inflatable aeroshell that could one day help land humans on Mars.
Our Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, just recently hosted an event for the media to find out more about the technology.
Following its launch to low-Earth orbit, LOFTID will inflate and come down back to Earth to demonstrate how it can decrease a spacecraft and assist it endure the journey down through a planets atmosphere.
U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame outside Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Credit: NASA.
2022 Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
Congratulations to former NASA astronauts Dave Leestma, Sandy Magnus, and Chris Ferguson. They are the most recent inductees to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
They were inducted as the Hall of Fames class of 2022 during a June 11th ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Thats whats up this week @NASA …

The next prelaunch practice session prior to launch of our Artemis I Moon mission …
News about some NASA astronomy missions …

And a critical turning point for an Earth-observing satellite …
A few of the stories to tell you about– This Week at NASA!