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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
August 9, 2024
A Perseid Below
Denizens of planet Earth typically watch meteor showers by looking up. But this remarkable view, captured on August 13, 2011 by astronaut Ron Garan, caught a Perseid meteor by looking down. From Garan's perspective on board the International Space Station orbiting at an altitude of about 380 kilometers, the Perseid meteors streak below, swept up dust from comet Swift-Tuttle. The vaporizing comet dust grains are traveling at about 60 kilometers per second through the denser atmosphere around 100 kilometers above Earth's surface. In this case, the foreshortened meteor flash is near frame center, below the curving limb of the Earth and a layer of greenish airglow, just below bright star Arcturus. Want to look up at a meteor shower? You're in luck, as the 2024 Perseid meteor shower is active now and predicted to peak near August 12. With interfering bright moonlight absent, this year you'll likely see many Perseid meteors under clear, dark skies after midnight.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
Listeria Outbreak Linked to Meats Sliced at Delis
August 8, 2024
Boar’s Head Ready-to-Eat Liverwurst Products
Produced between June 11, 2024 and July 17, 2024, and have a 44-day shelf-life
“Boar’s Head Strassburger Brand Liverwurst made in Virginia”
3.5 pound loaves in plastic casing, or various weight packages sliced in retail delis
Sell by dates range from July 25, 2024, to August 30, 2024
Other Boar’s Head Deli Meat Products
Boar’s Head also recalled all deli products, including prepackaged deli products, in shelf life from this establishment.
Look for “EST. 12612” or “P-12612” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels.
Source of the Outbreak
Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback data show that meats sliced at delis, including Boar’s Head brand liverwurst, are contaminated with Listeria and are making people sick.
Products sold at the deli, especially those sliced or prepared at the deli, can be contaminated with Listeria. Listeria spreads easily among deli equipment, surfaces, hands, and food.
Refrigeration does not kill Listeria, but reheating to a high enough temperature before eating will kill any germs that may be on these meats.
https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/delimeats-7-24/index.html
Japan issues urgent 'mega quake' alert with multiple tornado warnings after earthquake
Updated 08:50, 9 Aug 2024
Japanese authorities have issued a major earthquake and tornado alert following a mega tremor earlier this week.
Authorities issued a warning of a "major earthquake" striking the island nation in the near future. The warning told people to be alert but not yet evacuate.
The warning told residents that while a large quake was not imminent, the risk was likely higher than normal. Its alert comes after a huge 7.1 tremor rocked the southern island of Kyushu earlier this week.
Experts have been on heightened alert following the tremor and have also issued separate warnings for counties near the capital Tokyo.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tornado warnings for the Saitama and Gunma prefectures, both just northwest of Tokyo.
The agency added: "Saitama Prefecture Northern Saitama Prefecture is in a weather condition that is prone to the occurrence of violent gusts of wind such as tornadoes
"Pay attention to the state of the sky. If there are signs of approaching cumulonimbus clouds, such as lightning or sudden changes in wind, please make efforts to ensure your safety, such as by moving inside a sturdy building Please also be careful of lightning, hail, and sudden heavy rain."
It added in a warning for Gunma Prefecture:
"The weather conditions in southern Gunma Prefecture make it easy for violent gusts of wind such as tornadoes to occur. Pay attention to the state of the sky."
Japan is highly susceptible to natural disasters such as earthquakes due to its close location to three major tectonic plates.
According to the BBC, experts have warned there is anywhere between a 70 per cent and 80 per cent quake striking somewhere along the Nankai Trough within the next 30 years.
Earthquakes of that magnitude are rare and have been recorded once every 90 to 200 years.
The last one to strike Japan happened in 1946.
But worst case estimates claim as many as 200,000 people could be killed in a large earthquake that also triggers a follow-up tsunami, the BBC reported.
The Japan Meteorological Agency's warning comes after the 7.1 tremor hit the region.
Authorities said the tremor occurred at about 4:42pm local time near Miyazaki, southeast of Nagasaki, on Thursday.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-japan-issues-urgent-mega-33427638
NASA to Launch 8 Scientific Balloons From New Mexico
Aug 09, 2024
NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has kicked off its annual fall balloon campaign at the agency’s balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
Eight balloon flights carrying scientific experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled to launch from mid-August through mid-October.
The flights will support 16 missions, including investigations in the fields of astrophysics, heliophysics, and atmospheric research.
“The annual Fort Sumner campaign is the cornerstone of the NASA Balloon Program operations,” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office.
“Not only are we launching a large number of missions, but these flights set the foundation for follow-on missions from our long-duration launch facilities in Antarctica, New Zealand, and Sweden.
The Fort Sumner campaign is also a strong focus for our student-based payloads and is an excellent training opportunity for our up-and-coming scientists and engineers.”
Returning to the fall lineup is the EXCITE (Exoplanet Climate Infrared Telescope) mission led by Peter Nagler, principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
EXCITE features an astronomical telescope developed to study the atmospheric properties of Jupiter-type exoplanets from near space.
EXCITE’s launch was delayed during the 2023 campaign due to weather conditions.
“The whole EXCITE team is looking forward to our upcoming field campaign and launch opportunity from Fort Sumner,” said Nagler.
“We’re bringing a more capable instrument than we did last year and are excited to prove EXCITE from North America before we bring it to the Antarctic for our future long-duration science flight.”
Some additional missions scheduled to launch include:
Salter Test Flight: The test flight aims to verify system design and support several smaller payloads on the flight called piggyback missions.
HASP 1.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform): This platform supports up to 12 student payloads and assists in training the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers. It is designed to flight test compact satellites, prototypes, and other small payloads.
HASP 2.0 (High-Altitude Student Platform 2): This engineering test flight of the upgraded gondola and systems for the HASP program aims to double the carrying capability of student payloads.
DR-TES (mini-Dilution Refrigerator and a Transition Edge Sensor): This flight will test a cooling system and a gamma-ray detector in a near-space environment.
TIM Test Flight (Terahertz Intensity Mapper): This experiment will study galaxy evolution and the history of cosmic star formation.
THAI-SPICE (Testbed for High-Acuity Imaging – ÂÂÂStable Photometry and Image-motion Compensation Experiment): The goal of this project is to build and demonstrate a fine-pointing system for stratospheric payloads with balloon-borne telescopes.
TinMan (Thermalized Neutron Measurement Experiment): This hand-launch mission features a 60-pound payload designed to help better understand how thermal neutrons may affect aircraft electronics.
An additional eight piggyback missions will ride along on flights to support science and technology development.
Three of these piggyback missions are technology demonstrations led by the balloon program team at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Their common goal is to enhance the capabilities of NASA balloon missions. CASBa (Comprehensive Avionics System for Balloons) aims to upgrade the flight control systems for NASA balloon missions.
DINGO (Dynamics INstrumentation for GOndolas) and SPARROW-5 (Sensor Package for Attitude, Rotation, and Relative Observable Winds – Five) are technology maturation projects designed to provide new sensing capabilities to NASA balloon missions.
Zero-pressure balloons, used in this campaign, are in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings as they fly.
They maintain a zero-pressure differential with ducts that allow gas to escape to prevent an increase in pressure from inside the balloons as they rise above Earth’s surface.
This zero-pressure design makes the balloons very robust and well-suited for short, domestic flights, such as those in this campaign.
The loss of lift gas during the day-to-night cycle affects the balloon’s altitude after repeated day-to-night cycles; however, this can be overcome by launching from the polar regions, such as Sweden or Antarctica, where the Sun does not set on the balloon in the summer.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/scientific-balloons/nasa-to-launch-8-scientific-balloons-from-new-mexico/
https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/
Hubble Spotlights a Supernova
Aug 09, 2024
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LEDA 857074, located in the constellation Eridanus. LEDA 857074 is a barred spiral galaxy, with partially broken spiral arms.
The image also captured a supernova, named SN 2022ADQZ, shining brightly on the right side of the galaxy’s bar.
Several evolutionary paths can lead to a supernova explosion.
One is the death of a supermassive star. When a supermassive star runs out of its hydrogen fuel, it begins a stage where it fuses the remaining elements to heavier and heavier ones.
These final fusion reactions generate less and less outward force (radiation pressure) to balance the star’s gravitational tug inward.
As heavier elements form in the star’s core, the core itself begins to fully collapse under its own gravity, and the star’s outer layers blast away in a supernova explosion.
Depending on the star’s original mass, its core may collapse to nothing but neutrons, leaving behind a neutron star, or its gravity may be so great that it collapses to a black hole.
Astronomers detected supernova SN 2022ADQZ with an automated survey in late 2022.
This discovery led them to look at the supernova’s host galaxy, LEDA 857074, with Hubble in early 2023.
Hubble's sharp vision means that it can see supernovae that are billions of light years away and difficult for other telescopes to study.
A supernova image from the ground usually blends in with the image of its host galaxy, but Hubble can distinguish a supernova’s light from its host galaxy’s, measuring the supernova directly.
Astronomers detect thousands of supernovae annually, but the chance that they spot one in any particular galaxy of the millions that are cataloged is slim.
Thanks to this supernova, LEDA 857074 joins the ranks of other celestial objects with its own Hubble image.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-spotlights-a-supernova/
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-mission-concludes-after-years-of-successful-asteroid-detections/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neowise
NASA Mission Concludes After Years of Successful Asteroid Detections
Aug 08, 2024
Engineers on NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission commanded the spacecraft to turn its transmitter off for the last time Thursday.
This concludes more than 10 years of its planetary defense mission to search for asteroids and comets, including those that could pose a threat to Earth.
The final command was sent from the Earth Orbiting Missions Operation Center at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, with mission members past and present in attendance alongside officials from the agency’s headquarters in Washington.
NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System then relayed the signal to NEOWISE, decommissioning the spacecraft.
As NASA previously shared, the spacecraft’s science survey ended on July 31, and all remaining science data was downlinked from the spacecraft.
“The NEOWISE mission has been an extraordinary success story as it helped us better understand our place in the universe by tracking asteroids and comets that could be hazardous for us on Earth,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
“While we are sad to see this brave mission come to an end, we are excited for the future scientific discoveries it has opened by setting the foundation for the next generation planetary defense telescope.”
NASA ended the mission because NEOWISE will soon drop too low in its orbit around Earth to provide usable science data.
An uptick in solar activity is heating the upper atmosphere, causing it to expand and create drag on the spacecraft, which does not have a propulsion system to keep it in orbit.
Now decommissioned, NEOWISE is expected to safely burn up in our planet’s atmosphere in late 2024.
During its operational lifetime, the infrared survey telescope exceeded scientific objectives for not one but two missions, starting with the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission.
Managed by JPL, WISE launched in December 2009 with a seven-month mission to scan the entire infrared sky. By July 2010, WISE had accomplished this with far greater sensitivity than previous surveys.
A few months later, the telescope ran out of the coolant that kept heat produced by the spacecraft from interfering with its infrared observations. (Invisible to the human eye, infrared wavelengths are associated with heat.)
NASA extended the mission under the name NEOWISE until February 2011 to complete a survey of the main belt asteroids, at which point the spacecraft was put into hibernation.
Analysis of this data showed that although the lack of coolant meant the space telescope could no longer observe the faintest infrared objects in the universe, it could still make precise observations of asteroids and comets that generate a strong infrared signal from being heated by the Sun as they travel past our planet.
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NASA brought the telescope out of hibernation in 2013 under the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, a precursor for the agency’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, to continue the NEOWISE survey of asteroids and comets in the pursuit of planetary defense.
“The NEOWISE mission has been instrumental in our quest to map the skies and understand the near-Earth environment.
Its huge number of discoveries have expanded our knowledge of asteroids and comets, while also boosting our nation’s planetary defense,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL.
“As we bid farewell to NEOWISE, we also celebrate the team behind it for their impressive achievements.”
By repeatedly observing the sky from low Earth orbit, NEOWISE created all-sky maps featuring 1.45 million infrared measurements of more than 44,000 solar system objects.
Of the 3,000-plus near-Earth objects it detected, 215 were first spotted by NEOWISE. The mission also discovered 25 new comets, including the famed comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE that streaked across the night sky in the summer of 2020.
In addition to leaving behind a trove of science data, the spacecraft has helped inform the development of NASA’s first infrared space telescope purpose-built for detecting near-Earth objects: NEO Surveyor.
“The NEOWISE mission has provided a unique, long-duration data set of the infrared sky that will be used by scientists for decades to come,” said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for both NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“But its additional legacy is that it has helped lay the groundwork for NASA’s next planetary defense infrared space telescope.”
Also managed by JPL, NEO Surveyor will seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects, such as dark asteroids and comets that don’t reflect much visible light, as well as objects that approach Earth from the direction of the Sun.
The next-generation infrared space telescope will greatly enhance the capabilities of the international planetary defense community, which includes NASA-funded ground surveys.
Construction of NEO Surveyor is already well under way, with a launch date set for no earlier than 2027.
The NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor missions support the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at the agency’s headquarters.
The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed NASA to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 460 feet (140 meters) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet’s orbit.
Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth.
NASA JPL manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for the agency’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office within the Science Mission Directorate.
The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. BAE Systems of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science data processing, archiving, and distribution is done at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
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This Rocks! NASA is Sending Student Science to Space
Aug 08, 2024
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the RockSat-X mission on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
The Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket is expected to reach an altitude of about 100 miles (162 kilometers) before descending by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered.
The launch window for the mission is 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. EDT, Aug. 13, with backup days of Aug. 14, 15, and 16. The Wallops Visitor Center’s launch viewing area will open at 5 a.m. for launch viewing.
A livestream of the mission will begin 15 minutes before launch on the Wallops YouTube channel. Launch updates are also available via the Wallops Facebook page. The launch may be visible in the Chesapeake Bay region.
The rocket will carry experiments developed by nine university and community college teams as part of NASA’s RockSat programs.
“The RockSat program provides unique hands-on experiences for students in the development of scientific experiments and working in teams, so these students are ready to enter STEM careers,” said Dr. Joyce Winterton, Wallops senior advisor for education and leadership development.
RockSat-X 2024 Flight Projects
The University of Alabama Huntsville is flying two primary experiments:
Joint Union of Payload Information and Technology between Experiments and Rockets (JUPITER), a custom spacecraft bus-like system that connects experiment hardware with existing launch vehicle electronics.
SwingSat will increase the technology readiness level of momentum exchange tether technology in the context of satellite constellation deployments.
The University of Alberta will demonstrate instruments for characterizing plasma wave activity and electron microburst precipitation, specifically by resolving precipitating relativistic and sub-relativistic electrons. The project will be capable of measuring magnetic plasma wave oscillations, including chorus waves and ground-based Very Low Frequency transmitters. The outcome of this mission will improve the Technology Readiness Level.
Clemson University’s experiment will measure electron density and temperature of the E region ionosphere, between 56- 93 miles (90-150 kilometers).
The College of the Canyons experiment will deploy three capsules to gather data on greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere to aid in the fight against climate change.
The Community Colleges of Colorado, a collaboration of Arapahoe and Red Rocks Community Colleges, aims to evaluate how microgravity affects the mechanical properties of lunar regolith simulants sintered during suborbital flight.
The mission will also create a cost-efficient star tracker using off-the-shelf materials and open-source software.
Northwest Nazarene University is testing a space-rated robotic arm capable of tracking and capturing objects. The arm will deploy and catch three balls, then stow itself for reentry, and will also capture video footage of all the catch attempts.
The University of Puerto Rico will collect environmental data of the atmosphere using humidity, temperature, and pressure sensors. Using an Ultra High Frequency antenna, telecommunications will use open-source protocols to beam down data to ground stations at Wallops. Uninterrupted Virtual Reality footage of flight will be used for STEM engagement.
Virginia Tech’s experiment tests a space tether that provides a small CubeSat with power and a mechanical connection.
West Virginia Space Collaboration, a collaboration of five West Virginia universities, will conduct nine independent experiments flying on the 2024 RockSat-X mission. Included are:
Lower Ionosphere Electric Field Double Probes (LIEF), which will study plasma and electric field densities throughout the flight.
A mycelium properties experiment that will study the mechanical properties of mycelium under space flight conditions.
A flight dynamics module that will record data on rocket and space flight conditions.
A Geiger counter to detect radiation density during flight.
A heat study that will analyze heat dissipation during space flight and reentry.
A study on the effect of spaceflight on microbes in soil during flight and reentry.
Power generation using type K thermocouples.
Spectrometric and photographic data of the Sun.
Creation of a 3D model of flight using LiDAR tracking and flight data.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/wallops/this-rocks-nasa-is-sending-student-science-to-space/
Calling All Innovators: Apply for NASA’s 2025 Lunabotics Challenge
Aug 08, 2024
NASA invites teams from colleges, universities, as well as technical and vocational schools around the country to test their engineering skills in the 2025 Lunabotics Challenge.
Applications open at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6. The competition is aimed at inspiring Artemis Generation students to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the benefit of humanity.
Managed by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, the Lunabotics Challenge asks teams to design and build an autonomous or telerobotic robot capable of navigating a simulated lunar surface and completing the assigned construction task.
The robots will have to master the complexities of regolith, or lunar soil, simulants used to excavate and construct berm structures in a lunar environment, be capable of operating by remote control or through autonomous operations, and account for weight and size limitations.
By participating in one of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges, students have the opportunity to provide data on robotic excavator and builder design and operations, helping shape future missions at the Moon and ultimately Mars.
NASA encourages creative construction techniques and evaluates student designs and data just like it does for its own prototypes, increasing the chances of finding smart solutions for the challenges the agency may encounter at the Moon under the Artemis campaign.
Additionally, the competition will educate college students in the NASA systems engineering process, the agency’s methodical, multi-disciplinary approach for the design, realization, technical management, operations, and retirement of a system.
The competition will close on Thursday, Sept. 12, and NASA will announce selected teams on Friday, Sept. 20.
These teams will put their robots to the test during the University of Central Florida’s Lunabotics Qualification Challenge in May 2025, with the highest scoring teams invited to the culminating event at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida later that month.
Lunabotics takes place annually, running since 2010, and is one of several Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international astronaut on the Moon where NASA will establish a long-term presence and prepare for future science and exploration of Mars.
More than 7,000 students have participated in Lunabotics on-site or at their schools, with many former students now working at NASA or within the aerospace industry.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/calling-all-innovators-apply-for-nasas-2025-lunabotics-challenge/
How NASA Citizen Science Fuels Future Exoplanet Research
Aug 08, 2024
NASA’s upcoming flagship astrophysics missions, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will study planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets.
Over 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed to date — and given that scientists estimate at least one exoplanet exists for every star in the sky, the hunt has just begun.
Exoplanet discoveries from Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory may not be made only by professional researchers, but also by interested members of the public, known as citizen scientists.
Exoplanet research has a long involvement with citizen science.
NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission and now-retired Kepler mission, which are responsible for the vast majority of exoplanet discoveries to date, both made observations freely available to the public immediately after processing.
This open science policy paved the way for the public to get involved with NASA’s exoplanet science.
NASA’s Planet Hunters TESS project invites the public to classify exoplanet light curves from TESS online. Another project, Exoplanet Watch, allows citizen scientists to gather data about known exoplanets, submit their observations to NASA’s public data archive, and receive credit if their observation is used in a scientific paper. Participants don’t even need their own telescope — Exoplanet Watch also curates data from robotic telescopes for users to process.
“Anyone across the world who has access to a smartphone or a laptop can fully participate in a lot of these citizen science efforts to help us learn more about the cosmos,” said Rob Zellem, the project lead and project scientist for Exoplanet Watch and astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA’s citizen science projects have discovered several new planets from Kepler and TESS data.
They have also helped scientists refine the best time to observe important targets, saving hours of precious observation time on current flagship missions like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory provide even more possibilities for citizen science. Expected to launch by May 2027, Roman will discover exoplanets through direct imaging, transits, and gravitational microlensing.
Following that, the Habitable Worlds Observatory will take direct images of stars in our solar neighborhood to find potentially habitable planets and study their atmospheres.
Like Kepler and TESS before them, data from Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory will be available to both the scientific community and the public immediately after processing.
With Roman’s surveys expected to deliver a terabyte of data to Earth every day — over 17 times as much as Webb — there is a huge opportunity for the public to help sift through the information.
“The general public can get Roman data as quickly as I can as a scientist working on the mission,” said Zellem, who also serves as Roman’s deputy project scientist for communications at NASA Goddard.
“It truly makes Roman a mission for everyone and anyone.”
Although the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s full capabilities and instrumentation have yet to be finalized, the inclusion of citizen science is expected to continue.
The team behind the mission is embracing a community-oriented planning approach by opening up working groups to volunteers who want to contribute.
“It’s already setting the tone for open science with the Habitable Worlds Observatory,” said Megan Ansdell, the program scientist for the mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“The process is as open as possible, and these working groups are open to anybody in the world who wants to join.” There are already over 1,000 community working group members participating, some of whom are citizen scientists.
Future citizen science initiatives may be combined with cutting-edge tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) for greater efficacy.
“AI can be exceptionally powerful in terms of classification and identifying anomalous things,” said Joshua Pepper, the deputy program scientist for the Habitable Worlds Observatory at NASA Headquarters.
“But the evaluation of what those anomalous things are often requires human insight, intervention, and review, and I think that could be a really fantastic area for citizen scientists to participate.”
Before Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory launch, exoplanet citizen scientists still have plenty of data to analyze from the Kepler and TESS satellites, but the contributions of the community will become even more important when data begin pouring in from the new missions.
As Zellem said, “We’re in a golden age of exoplanet science right now.”
https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/exoplanet-future-citizen-science/
https://www.geospatialworld.net/prime/interviews/generation-artemis-nasa-moon/
Generation Artemis To Moon and Beyond
August 9, 2024
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From the days of the Apache sounding rockets in 1963, to NISAR, the world's biggest SAR satellite, Indo-US space cooperation has come a long way. What do you think is the future of this partnership?
Space shows us time and again that diplomacy is good for discovery, and discovery is good for diplomacy.
Our flagship mission with India, NISAR, will bring revolutionary data about the evolution and state of Earth’s crust, help scientists better understand our planet’s processes and changing climate, and aid future resource and hazard management. 
Our international partners – including India – are making remarkable discoveries on the Moon. It was just last year that India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed on the lunar surface, becoming the first nation to land at the South Pole of the Moon.
This mission inspired countless people in India and worldwide, providing key scientific data on the lunar South Pole, which is where the future NASA Artemis missions will land.
We are looking forward to continuing to work with India from Earth to the Moon and, eventually, on Mars, and we are excited about welcoming an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS).
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Artemis Accord reiterates the peaceful use of outer space as humanity's common province and aims to rekindle the spark of the Apollo spirit to go back to the moon. How can it serve as a symbol of hope and progress for countries that are newcomers to space?
The Artemis Accords define how we can remain true to, and implement our obligations under the Outer Space Treaty.
They reflect a shared commitment to safe, responsible, and transparent behavior in space, to preserve and protect the outer space environment, and ensure a sustainable future in space for all.
India’s leadership in discussions of how to implement the Accords principles will be critical to success.
It is also important for new-comers to space to join these discussions. India can help them understand the value of their participation.
Working together in space helps to bridge generations and nations. It builds a better future for all humanity.  This new generation – the Artemis Generation – will see humanity return to the Moon, where we will learn to live and work as we prepare for the first human missions to Mars.
Along with both new and existing partners will add new energy and capabilities to ensure the entire world can benefit from our journey of exploration and discovery. These achievements will benefit the Artemis Generation all around the globe.
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While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, ratified by more than 100 countries, explicitly prohibits deployment of weapons into outer space, the risk of a space conflict still looms. Do we need to amend the treaty or introduce new clauses to it as space weaponization is a looming threat?
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty already prohibits the establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies, including the Moon.
It is very clear about the use outer space only for peaceful purposes.
But this is also why the Artemis Accords are so important – to establish a common set of principles for the civil exploration and use of outer space.
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Space monitoring and solutions are critical for sustainability on Earth. Yet sustainability in space is equally crucial, and both are interlinked. How to emphasize this to drive concerted action and build meaningful, value-based alliances?
For decades, NASA has served as a proactive leader for responsible and sustainable space operations. As outlined in our new Space Sustainability Strategy released earlier this year, NASA is working on measuring and assessing space sustainability in Earth orbit.
We are identifying cost-effective ways to meet sustainability targets, incentivizing the adoption of sustainable practices through technology and policy development, and increasing efforts to share and receive information with the rest of the global space community.
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From GPS, which is the backbone of the digital economy, to high-resolution agricultural and supply chain monitoring, and disaster and emergency risk mapping, the contribution of space to the world is invaluable.
What do you think would be its role in the era of Generative AI and Industry 4.0?
We are living through a golden age of exploration – all of us. And that’s not just in terms of returning to the Moon and going to Mars.
NASA has over two dozen Earth-observing satellites and data from over 60 years of how our planet is changing.
It’s an exciting time, and I am looking forward to how NASA’s unique vantage point from space will help inform Generative AI and Industry 4.0.
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Do you think we are at the crossroads of a New Space Race? And how different the current scenario is from the Cold War era?
The circumstances today are vastly different than those in the 1960s. This time our goal is not just to go to the Moon, but to reach the Moon to learn so that we can go farther to Mars and beyond. NASA and the United States use space and science as a unifying force.
This time, we are going to the South Pole because we know there’s ice there in the crevices of the rocks in the constant shadow or darkness.
And where there’s ice, you have water, which can be used to create rocket fuel. But there are limited areas that you can land on the South Pole.
So yes, we want to get there with the international community, for scientific research.
NASA welcomes partnership between nations around the world, especially those who share the same values of transparency, peaceful exploration, the release of scientific data, and planning for the safe disposal of orbital debris.
On a related note, I hope that China will join the U.S. in dissuading Russia from putting a nuclear weapon in space, which would put all of our astronauts at risk, including Russian Cosmonauts.
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As a Congressman, you trained with NASA and travelled to outer space in 1986. What is it that has always elicited your deep interest in space throughout your long illustrious career?
I often talk about President Kennedy’s speech at Rice University in 1962 where he quoted British explorer George Mallory, specifically his answer for why he dared to climb Mount Everest. Mallory’s response was: “Because it’s there.”
Humans are explorers by nature, it is in our DNA. And space is the final frontier. When I was orbiting the Earth, looking back at the planet from the unique vantage point of space, I did not see racial division. I did not see religious division. And I did not see political division.
I saw that we are all in this together, as citizens of Planet Earth. We go to space to improve life here on Earth, and the way to do it is together with international partners.
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