The Marshall Star for September 4, 2024
Science & Technology

The Marshall Star for September 4, 2024

NASA Space Technology NASA is making strides with the Artemis campaign as key components for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket continue to make their way to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Teams with NASA and Boeing loaded the core stage boat-tail for Artemis III and the core stage engine section for Artemis IV onto the agency’s Pegasus barge at Michoud Assembly Facility on Aug. 28.The core stage hardware joins the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II, which was moved onto the barge at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Aug. 21. Pegasus will ferry the multi-mission rocket hardware more than 900 miles to the Space Coast of Florida. Teams with the NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will prepare the launch vehicle stage adapter for Artemis II stacking operations inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, while the core stage hardware will be moved...
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NASA Earth Scientists Take Flight, Set Sail to Verify PACE Satellite Data
Science & Technology

NASA Earth Scientists Take Flight, Set Sail to Verify PACE Satellite Data

NASA Space Technology More than 100 scientists will participate in a field campaign involving a research vessel and two aircraft this month to verify the accuracy of data collected by NASA’s new PACE satellite: the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission.The process of data validation includes researchers comparing PACE data with data collected by similar, Earth-based instruments to ensure the measurements match up.Since the mission’s Feb. 8, 2024 launch, scientists around the world have successfully completed several data validation campaigns; the September deployment — PACE-PAX — is its largest.From sea to sky to orbit, a range of vantage points allow NASA Earth scientists to collect different types of data to better understand our changing planet. Collecting them together, at the same place and the same time, is an important step used to verify the accuracy of...
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NASA Astronaut Don Pettit’s Science of Opportunity on Space Station
Science & Technology

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit’s Science of Opportunity on Space Station

NASA Space Technology Science ideas are everywhere. Some of the greatest discoveries have come from tinkering and toying with new concepts and ideas. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is no stranger to inventing and discovering. During his previous missions, Pettit has contributed to advancements for human space exploration aboard the International Space Station resulting in several published scientific papers and breakthroughs.Pettit, accompanied by cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will launch to the orbiting laboratory in September 2024. In preparation for his fourth spaceflight, read about previous “science of opportunity” experiments Pettit performed during his free time with materials readily available to the crew or included in his personal kit.Have you ever noticed a white bubble inside the ice in your ice tray at home? This is trapped air that accumulates in one area due to...
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Six rogue planets spotted by James Webb Telescope in nearby nebula
Science & Technology

Six rogue planets spotted by James Webb Telescope in nearby nebula

NASA Space Technology Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.Planetary Delights: A rogue planet is an interstellar body with planetary mass that is not gravitationally bound to any "parent" star or star-like object. The exact process by which rogue planets form is still under debate, but recent observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope may help dispel some of the mysteries surrounding these elusive galactic wanderers. NASA estimates that trillions of rogue planets could be hidden within a single galaxy, including our own Milky Way. A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently discovered six new wandering worlds by focusing the powerful infrared instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope on a young nebula located a thousand light-years away, known as NGC 1333.The nearby nebula resides...
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