NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Mar 12, 2024

A Galaxy-Shaped Rocket Exhaust Spiral

What's that over the horizon? What may look like a strangely nearby galaxy is actually a normal rocket's exhaust plume – but unusually backlit. Although the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, its burned propellant was visible over a much wider area, with the featured photograph being taken from Akureyri, Iceland. The huge spaceship was lifted off a week ago, and the resulting spectacle was captured soon afterward with a single 10-second smartphone exposure, before it quickly dissipated. Like noctilucent clouds, the plume's brightness is caused by the Twilight Effect, where an object is high enough to be illuminated by the twilight Sun, even when the observer on the ground experiences the darkness of night. The spiral shape is likely caused by high winds pushing the expelled gas into the shape of a corkscrew, which, when seen along the trajectory, looks like a spiral. Stars and faint green and red aurora appear in the background of this extraordinary image.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

NASA Welcomes Crew-7’s Return to Earth After Safely Splashing Down

March 12, 2024

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov splashed down safely in the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, at 5:47 a.m. EDT, completing a six-month science mission spent aboard the International Space Station.

Teams on the SpaceX recovery ship, including two fast boats, now are in the process of securing Dragon and ensuring the spacecraft is safe for recovery. As the fast boat teams complete their work, the recovery ship will move into position to hoist Dragon onto the main deck with the Crew-7 crew members inside. Once on the main deck, the crew will be taken out of the spacecraft and undergo medical checks before a short helicopter ride to board a plane for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA, SpaceX, and international partner representatives will hold a media teleconference later this morning, at 7 a.m. EDT, to discuss the Crew-7 mission and the crew’s return to Earth. The teleconference will be streamed live on NASA’s YouTube channel.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/crew-7/2024/03/12/nasa-welcomes-crew-7s-return-to-earth-after-safely-splashing-down/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcLUTamS8eo

NASA Awards Environmental, Safety, Health, Mission Assurance Contract

MAR 11, 2024

NASA has selected Bastion Technologies Inc. of Houston to provide support services in four broad technical areas including environmental, institutional operational safety, occupational health, aeronautics and space systems, and ground support equipment mission assurance.

The Environmental, Safety, Health, and Mission Assurance contract is cost-plus-fixed-fee with indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task orders with a maximum value of approximately $125.4 million. The performance period is from May 1, 2024, to April 30, 2029.

Services will be provided at NASA’s Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland and Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Services also will be provided at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington and may be required at other NASA facilities, once approved, and placed on the contract.

Major subcontractors for Bastion Technologies Inc. include Leidos Inc. of Reston, Virginia, and Herndon Solutions Group of Henderson, Nevada.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-environmental-safety-health-mission-assurance-contract/

To boldly go back: Lilly charts 2nd space trip in 4 months, this time with chronic disease tests

Mar 12, 2024 9:44am

Eli Lilly, like a child still giddy from their first roller coaster ride, is ready to go back into space. And so it will.

The pharmaceutical giant is teaming up with aerospace manufacturer Redwire for the second time in four months to try out drug discovery in space, this time with an emphasis on chronic diseases, the companies announced Tuesday. At the core of the venture is Redwire’s pharmaceutical manufacturing platform, PIL-BOX, designed for use beyond Earth. It allows pharmaceutical companies to “grow small-batch crystals of protein-based pharmaceuticals” in space, according to Redwire.

Experiments from Lilly’s last trip in October found that microgravity boosted insulin crystal growth. The focus then was on treatments for diabetes, pain and cardiovascular disease. Now, the Big Pharma plans to further investigate and tinker with the science behind the crystals and how they benefit drug discovery. The new test, PIL-02, will launch on SpaceX’s upcoming resupply mission, slated for March 21.

The irony in going to space is that back on Earth, its drug discovery endeavors have gone pretty well as of late, with Lilly sporting the largest market cap of any pharmaceutical company in the world. The Big Pharma's hot streak was doused with cold water last week, however, after FDA officials delayed a decision on the Alzheimer’s disease med donanemab to convene agency advisers to discuss the company’s data. Most still expect the drug to be approved, but, for the time being, Lilly's Alzheimer's program has come off warp speed.

Meanwhile, on planet Redwire, the aero-manufacturing company is working on an updated version of its PIL-BOX platform called PIL-BOX Dynamic Microscopy Cassette. The upgraded tech will allow companies to watch crystal formation as it happens, according to Redwire.

Lilly’s efforts follow in the moonsteps of Bristol Myers Squibb, which began working on similar experiments in conjunction with the International Space Station back in 2020. It sent more medicines up in 2023 so that scientists could study how they crystalize in microgravity.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/eli-lilly-liked-space-so-much-its-going-second-time-four-months-now-focused-chronic-disease

NASA Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request

https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2025-budget-request/

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Department of the Air Force releases 2025 budget proposal

March 11, 2024

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) –

The Department of the Air Force unveiled a $217.5 billion budget request March 11, designed to continue modernizing the Air Force and Space Force, maintain readiness to respond to current threats, and address key capability gaps while investing to manage risks that are increasing with time.

The $217.5 billion proposal that Congress will now consider for fiscal year 2025 includes $188.1 billion for the Air Force and $29.4 billion for the Space Force. If enacted into law, the Department’s overall budget would grow by 1.1 percent, $2.4 billion, from last fiscal year’s budget.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall stressed the importance of adequately funding the military for competitiveness in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

"I think that 2025, while difficult, is at a level that I think we can accept, and it will still allow us to make progress on the modernization we need," Kendall said.

The FY 2025 budget was built for each service’s unique mission.

“The Air Force’s core functions remain unchanged: air superiority, global strike, rapid global mobility, command and control, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance,” said Kristyn Jones, performing the duties of the Under Secretary of the Air Force. “The Space Force’s efforts reflect the indispensable support that underpins all other joint operations and its continued transformation into a warfighting service to secure our interests in, from and to space.”

https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3703322/department-of-the-air-force-releases-2025-budget-proposal/