December 23, 2024

This Week @NASA: Practicing Artemis Moonwalks, VIPER Moon Rover Test, Dawn of a Sun-Like Star

Credit: NASA/Josh ValcarcelPracticing Artemis Moonwalks in the desert … A developmental milestone for NASAs lunar-roving robot … And previewing NASAs brand-new polar environment mission … A few of the stories to inform you about– This Week at NASA!Practicing Artemis Moonwalk Activities in the Arizona DesertIn preparation for Artemis missions on the Moon, NASA carried out a week-long field test near Flagstaff, Arizona.With flight controllers and researchers keeping track of activities from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, a field team, including NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas, practiced moonwalk situations, carried out technology demonstrations, and carried out hardware checkouts and other Artemis science-related operations.This was the greatest fidelity Artemis moonwalk mission simulation the group has performed to date.Engineers test the VIPER rovers wheel movement and rotation in a clean space at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechPreviewing NASAs New Polar Climate MissionNASAs PREFIRE objective– brief for Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment– aims to enhance life on Earth by studying heat loss from our polar areas and by offering details on our altering climate.Much of our planets polar heat loss is in far-infrared wavelengths and has actually never ever been systematically measured. Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Duchene (Universite de Grenoble I); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)Hubble Views the Dawn of a Sun-Like StarThis new image from NASAs Hubble Space Telescope reveals a triple-star system situated about 550 light-years away in the constellation Taurus.One of the stars– called HP Tau– is a type of young variable star that hasnt started nuclear blend yet however is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star like our Sun.