NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

July 9, 2024

Noctilucent Clouds over Florida

These clouds are doubly unusual. First, they are rare noctilucent clouds, meaning that they are visible at night but only just before sunrise or just after sunset. Second, the source of these noctilucent clouds is actually known. In this rare case, the source of the sunlight-reflecting ice-crystals in the upper atmosphere can be traced back to the launch of a nearby SpaceX rocket about 30 minutes earlier. Known more formally as polar mesospheric clouds, the vertex of these icy wisps happens to converge just in front of a rising crescent Moon. The featured image and accompanying video – were captured over Orlando, Florida, USA about a week ago. The bright spot to the right of the Moon is the planet Jupiter, while the dotted lights above the horizon on the right are from an airplane.

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

Happy Birthday, Meatball! NASA’s Iconic Logo Turns 65

JUL 08, 2024

On July 15, 2024, NASA’s logo is turning 65. The iconic symbol, known affectionately as “the meatball,” was developed at NASA’s Lewis Research Center in Cleveland (now called NASA Glenn).

Employee James Modarelli, who started his career at the center as an artist and technical illustrator, was its chief designer.

The red, white, and blue design, which includes elements representing NASA’s space and aeronautics missions, became the official logo of the United States’ new space agency in 1959.

A simplified version of NASA’s formal seal, the symbol has launched on rockets, flown to the Moon and beyond, and even adorns the International Space Station.

Along with its importance as a timeless symbol of exploration and discovery, the logo is also one of the world’s most recognized brand symbols.

It gained its nickname in 1975 to differentiate it from NASA’s “worm” logotype. The “meatball” and these other NASA designs have made waves in pop culture.

“NASA’s brand elements are wildly popular,” said Aimee Crane, merchandising and branding clearance manager for the agency.

“Every year, the agency receives requests to merchandise more than 10,000 NASA-inspired items.”

To mark the “meatball” logo’s birthday and highlight the center’s contributions to its design, NASA Glenn will host a free admission day at Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET on July 15.

A birthday celebration and cake-cutting ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. and feature remarks from center leadership, a visit from the Modarelli family, and special presentations from the city and state.

A host of additional activities will celebrate the intersection of science and art.

Visitors can meet NASA Glenn’s award-winning photographers and videographers, show off their artistic skills by participating in a coloring contest, hear more about the history and symbolism behind the logo, and learn about creative careers within the agency.

“It’s not just rocket scientists here at NASA,” said Kristen Parker, NASA Glenn’s communications director.

“As we celebrate the legacy of this iconic logo, we acknowledge the essential contributions of all the career fields involved in making the agency’s missions possible.

We hope this inspires the next generation of students in every discipline to explore opportunities with NASA.”

NASA’s logo is everywhere. If you’re not in the Northeast Ohio area, join the logo’s birthday celebration online by engaging with NASA Glenn on social media and sharing photos of where you’ve seen the logo in your own life.

https://www.nasa.gov/general/happy-birthday-meatball-nasas-iconic-logo-turns-65/

NASA Mission to Study Mysteries in the Origin of Solar Radio Waves

JUL 08, 2024

Scientists first noticed these radio waves decades ago, and over the years they’ve determined the radio waves come from solar flares and giant eruptions on the Sun called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, which are a key driver of space weather that can impact satellite communications and technology at Earth.

But no one knows where the radio waves originate within a CME.

The CURIE mission aims to advance our understanding using a technique called low frequency radio interferometry, which has never been used in space before.

This technique relies on CURIE’s two independent spacecraft — together no bigger than a shoebox — that will orbit Earth about two miles apart.

This separation allows CURIE’s instruments to measure tiny differences in the arrival time of radio waves, which enables them to determine exactly where the radio waves came from.

“This is a very ambitious and very exciting mission,” said Principal Investigator David Sundkvist, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

“This is the first time that someone is ever flying a radio interferometer in space in a controlled way, and so it’s a pathfinder for radio astronomy in general.”

The spacecraft, designed by a team from UC Berkeley, will measure radio waves ranging 0.1 to 19 megahertz to pinpoint the radio waves’ solar origin.

These wavelengths are blocked by Earth’s upper atmosphere, so this research can only be done from space.

CURIE will launch aboard an ESA (European Space Agency) Ariane 6 rocket in early July from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

The rocket will take CURIE to 360 miles above Earth’s surface, where it can get a clear view of the Sun’s radio waves.

Once in its circular orbit, the two adjoined CURIE spacecraft will establish communication with ground stations before orienting and separating.

When the separated satellites are in formation, their dual eight-foot antennas will deploy and start collecting data.

CURIE is sponsored by NASA’s Heliophysics Flight Opportunities for Research and Technology (H-FORT) Program and is the sole mission manifested on the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative’s ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 43 mission.

As a pathfinder, CURIE will demonstrate a proof-of-concept for space-based radio interferometry in the CubeSat form factor.

CURIE will also pave the way for the upcoming Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment, or SunRISE, mission. SunRISE will employ six CubeSats to map the region where the solar radio waves originate in 2-D.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-mission-to-study-mysteries-in-the-origin-of-solar-radio-waves/

NextSTEP Q: CIS Capability Studies III – Lunar User Terminals & Network Orchestration and Management System

JUL 08, 2024

NASA’s long-term vision to provide for a resilient space and ground communications and navigation infrastructure in which space mission users can seamlessly “roam” between an array of space-based and ground-based networks has been bolstered by innovative studies delivered by industry through the Next Space Technologies for Exploration (NextSTEP) – 2 Omnibus Broad Agency Announcement vehicle. Initially, NASA seeks to create an interoperable architecture composed of a mixture of existing NASA assets and commercial networks and services.

In the long-term, this will allow for a smooth transition to fully commercialized communications services for near-Earth users. The overarching goal is to create a reliable, robust, and cost-effective set of commercial services in which NASA is one of many customers.

NASA’s Commercialization, Innovation, and Synergies (CIS) Office has released a solicitation notice under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (Next STEP-2) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to seek industry insights, innovative guidance, and demonstrations in the following two (2) Study Areas:

Lunar User Terminals

Network Orchestration and Management System (NOMS)

To support lunar surface operations, NASA is seeking state-of-the-art industry studies, system development, and demonstrations for a dual-purpose navigation and communication lunar surface user terminal.

The terminal must meet technical requirements provided by the government to support lunar surface exploration plans and ensure interoperability with developed LunaNet and Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation System (LCRNS) standards.

The requirements will be split into separate LunaNet Augmented Forward Signal (AFS) navigation receiver and communications transceiver capabilities.

However, the development of a combined communications and position, navigation, and timing (CPNT) system capable of meeting the full suite of requirements is desired.

Additionally, NASA is seeking innovative industry studies and demonstrations on advanced Network Orchestration and Management Systems (NOMS) that effectively address NASA technical requirements aimed at controlling and interfacing with a globally distributed network of Satellite Ground Systems currently supporting the Near Space Network (NSN).

The resulting studies will ensure advancement of NASA’s development of space communication and exploration technologies, capabilities, and concepts.

https://www.nasa.gov/general/nextstep-q-cis-capability-studies-iii-lunar-user-terminals-network-orchestration-and-management-system/

House Unveils $25.2B NASA Funding Proposal

July 9, 2024

The House unveiled its $25.2B fiscal 2025 budget for NASA, shorting the space agency by about $204.1M compared to its original request.

The topline budget included in the draft bill from the House Appropriations Committee would give the agency $303.6M more than it received in fiscal 2024.

By the numbers: The $25.2B budget plan is broken down into several buckets, including:

$7.3B for science, including $2.9B for planetary science and $2B for Earth science

$7.6B for exploration

$1.2B for space technology

$89M for STEM

Moon bound:

Lawmakers expressed strong support for NASA’s work with the commercial sector to deliver cargo to the lunar surface under the CLPS program, which the bill fully funds.

“The Committee notes the importance of CLPS funding remaining at no less than the fiscal year 2024 enacted level, to grow the space economy and to create lasting, affordable commercial operations on the Moon,” the bill report says.

“The Committee emphasizes the importance of the CLPS program in maintaining American leadership in space, developing a domestic space industrial base for the U.S.’s return to the Moon.”

To Mars?

Appropriators have also bought in on NASA’s plans to bring Martian samples to Earth. The bill would require the agency to spend $650M—$450M more than NASA requested—on the program in fiscal 2025, with the report citing “concerns” over how prior cuts to the mission “have led to serious losses in NASA’s high-skilled workforce” that will hurt both this mission and other planetary science efforts in the future.

Lawmakers also asked NASA for more info on its pivot to use industry for the sample return mission. The bill would require NASA to submit a report with details on how it intends to evaluate proposals from the private sector.

What’s next:

House lawmakers are meeting this morning to mark up the bill, which will still need to be approved by the full chamber and reconciled with the Senate’s spending plan before it becomes law.

https://payloadspace.com/house-unveils-25-2b-nasa-funding-proposal/