Jesse Ventura Goes BEYOND Woke - What is Wrong With Him?
https://youtu.be/UVznnSjLi6I?si=jdOtTlPECqJGgrQ7
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
September 13, 2024
Aurora Australis and the International Space Station
This snapshot from the International Space Station was taken on August 11 while orbiting about 430 kilometers above the Indian Ocean, Southern Hemisphere, planet Earth. The spectacular view looks south and east, down toward the planet's horizon and through red and green curtains of aurora australis. The auroral glow is caused by emission from excited oxygen atoms in the extremely rarefied upper atmosphere still present at the level of the orbiting outpost. Green emission from atomic oxygen dominates this scene at altitudes of 100 to 250 kilometers, while red emission from atomic oxygen can extend as high as 500 kilometers altitude. Beyond the glow of these southern lights, this view from low Earth orbit reveals the starry sky from a southern hemisphere perspective. Stars in Orion's belt and the Orion Nebula are near the Earth's limb just left of center. Sirius, alpha star of Canis Major and brightest star in planet Earth's night is above center along the right edge of the southern orbital skyscape.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/nasas-spacex-crew-9-to-conduct-space-station-research/
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 to Conduct Space Station Research
Sep 12, 2024
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are headed to the International Space Station for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission in September.
Once on station, these crew members will support scientific investigations that include studies of blood clotting, effects of moisture on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts.
Here are details on some of the work scheduled during the Crew-9 expedition:
Blood cell development in space
Megakaryocytes Orbiting in Outer Space and Near Earth (MeF1) investigates how environmental conditions affect the development and function of megakaryocytes and platelets.
Megakaryocytes, large cells found in bone marrow, and platelets, pieces of these cells, play important roles in blood clotting and immune response.
“Understanding the development and function of megakaryocytes and platelets during long-duration spaceflight is crucial to safeguarding the health of astronauts,” said Hansjorg Schwertz, principal investigator, at the University of Utah.
“Sending megakaryocyte cell cultures into space offers a unique opportunity to explore their intricate differentiation process.
Microgravity also may impact other blood cells, so the insights we gain are likely to enhance our overall comprehension of how spaceflight influences blood cell production.”
Results could provide critical knowledge about the risks of changes in inflammation, immune responses, and clot formation in spaceflight and on the ground.
Patches for NICER
The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope on the exterior of the space station measures X-rays emitted by neutron stars and other cosmic objects to help answer questions about matter and gravity.
In May 2023, NICER developed a “light leak” that allows sunlight to interfere with daytime measurements.
Special patches designed to cover some of the damage will be installed during a future spacewalk, returning the instrument to around-the-clock operation.
“This will be the fourth science observatory and first X-ray telescope in orbit to be repaired by astronauts,” said principal investigator Keith Gendreau at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“In just a year, we diagnosed the problem, designed and tested a solution, and delivered it for launch.
The space station team — from managers and safety experts to engineers and astronauts — helped us make it happen. We’re looking forward to getting back to normal science operations.”
Vitamins for vision
Some astronauts experience vision changes, a condition called Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome.
The B Complex investigation tests whether a daily B vitamin supplement can prevent or mitigate this problem and assesses how genetics may influence individual response.
“We still do not know exactly what causes this syndrome, and not everyone gets it,” said Sara Zwart, principal investigator, at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Houston.
“It is likely many factors, and biological variations that make some astronauts more susceptible than others.”
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One such variation could be related to a metabolic pathway that requires B vitamins to function properly.
Inefficiencies in this pathway can affect the inner lining of blood vessels, resulting in leaks that may contribute to vision changes.
Providing B vitamins known to affect blood vessel function positively could minimize issues in genetically at-risk astronauts.
“The concept of this study is based on 13 years of flight and ground research,” Zwart said.
“We are excited to finally flight test a low-risk countermeasure that could mitigate the risk on future missions, including those to Mars.”
Watering the space garden
As people travel farther from Earth for longer, growing food becomes increasingly important.
Scientists conducted many plant growth experiments on the space station using its Veggie hardware, including Veg-01B, which demonstrated that ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce is suitable for crop production in space.
Plant Habitat-07 uses this lettuce to examine how moisture conditions affect the nutritional quality and microbial safety of plants.
The Advanced Plant Habitat controls humidity, temperature, air, light, and soil moisture, creating the precise conditions needed for the experiment.
Using a plant known to grow well in space removes a challenging variable from the equation, explained Chad Vanden Bosch, principal investigator at Redwire, and this lettuce also has been proven to be safe to consume when grown in space.
“For crews building a base on the Moon or Mars, tending to plants may be low on their list of responsibilities, so plant growth systems need to be automated,” Bosch said.
“Such systems may not always provide the perfect growing conditions, though, so we need to know if plants grown in suboptimal conditions are safe to consume.”
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Printed Engines Propel the Next Industrial Revolution
Sep 12, 2024
In the fall of 2023, NASA hot fire tested an aluminum 3D printed rocket engine nozzle.
Aluminum is not typically used for 3D printing because the process causes it to crack, and its low melting point makes it a challenging material for rocket engines.
Yet the test was a success.
Printing aluminum engine parts could save significant time, money, and weight for future spacecraft. Elementum 3D Inc., a partner on the project, is now making those benefits available to the commercial space industry and beyond.
The hot fire test was the culmination of a relationship between NASA and Elementum that began shortly after the company was founded in 2014 to make more materials available for 3D printing.
Based in Erie, Colorado, the company infuses metal alloys with particles of other materials to alter their properties and make them amenable to additive manufacturing.
This became the basis of Elementum’s Reactive Additive Manufacturing (RAM) process.
NASA adopted the technology, qualifying the RAM version of a common aluminum alloy for 3D printing.
The agency then awarded funding to Elementum 3D and another company to print the experimental Broadsword rocket engine, demonstrating the concept’s viability.
Meanwhile, a team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was working to adapt an emerging technology to print larger engines.
In 2021, Marshall awarded an Announcement of Collaborative Opportunity to Elementum 3D to modify an aluminum alloy for printing in what became the Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution project.
The project also made a commonly used aluminum alloy available for large-scale 3D printing.
It is already used in large satellite components and could be implemented into microchip manufacturing equipment, Formula 1 race car parts, and more.
The alloy modified for the Broadsword engine is already turning up in brake rotors and lighting fixtures.
These various applications exemplify the possibilities that come from NASA’s collaboration and investment in industry.
https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/printed-engines-propel-the-next-industrial-revolution/
NASA to Develop Lunar Time Standard for Exploration Initiatives
Sep 12, 2024
NASA will coordinate with U.S. government stakeholders, partners, and international standards organizations to establish a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) following a policy directive from the White House in April.
The agency’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program is leading efforts on creating a coordinated time, which will enable a future lunar ecosystem that could be scalable to other locations in our solar system.
The lunar time will be determined by a weighted average of atomic clocks at the Moon, similar to how scientists calculate Earth’s globally recognized Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Exactly where at the Moon is still to be determined, since current analysis indicates that atomic clocks placed at the Moon’s surface will appear to ‘tick’ faster by microseconds per day.
A microsecond is one millionth of a second. NASA and its partners are currently researching which mathematical models will be best for establishing a lunar time.
To put these numbers into perspective, a hummingbird’s wings flap about 50 times per second. Each flap is about .02 seconds, or 20,000 microseconds.
So, while 56 microseconds may seem miniscule, when discussing distances in space, tiny bits of time add up.
“For something traveling at the speed of light, 56 microseconds is enough time to travel the distance of approximately 168 football fields,” said Cheryl Gramling, lead on lunar position, navigation, timing, and standards at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“If someone is orbiting the Moon, an observer on Earth who isn’t compensating for the effects of relativity over a day would think that the orbiting astronaut is approximately 168 football fields away from where the astronaut really is.”
As the agency’s Artemis campaign prepares to establish a sustained presence on and around the Moon, NASA’s SCaN team will establish a time standard at the Moon to ensure the critical time difference does not affect the safety of future explorers.
The approach to time systems will also be scalable for Mars and other celestial bodies throughout our solar system, enabling long-duration exploration.
As the commercial space industry grows and more nations are active at the Moon, there is a greater need for time standardization.
A shared definition of time is an important part of safe, resilient, and sustainable operations,” said Dr. Ben Ashman, navigation lead for lunar relay development, part of NASA’s SCaN program.
NASA’s SCaN program serves as the office for the agency’s space communications operations and navigation.
More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on SCaN’s two networks, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, to support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitor Earth’s weather and the effects of climate change, support lunar exploration, and uncover the solar system and beyond.
https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/nasa-to-develop-lunar-time-standard-for-exploration-initiatives/
NASA Moon to Mars Architecture Art Challenge
Sep 12, 2024
NASA wants you to visualize the future of space exploration!
This art challenge is looking for creative, artistic images to represent NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture, the agency’s roadmap for crewed exploration of deep space.
With NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives in hand, the agency is developing an architecture for crewed exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Using systems engineering processes, NASA has begun to perform the analyses and studies needed to make informed decisions about a sustained lunar evolution and initial human missions to Mars.
NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture currently includes four segments of increasing complexity: Human Lunar Return, Foundational Exploration, Sustained Lunar Evolution, and Humans to Mars.
For this competition, NASA is interested in your artistic interpretation of the latter two segments: Sustained Lunar Evolution and Humans to Mars.
These depictions could include operations in space, on the surface, or both. Artists may develop and submit a still image for either the lunar and Mars exploration segments.
Award: $10,000 in total prizes
Open Date: September 12, 2024
Close Date: October 31, 2024
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/prizes-challenges-crowdsourcing-program/center-of-excellence-for-collaborative-innovation-coeci/nasa-moon-to-mars-architecture-art-challenge/
NASA Taps Finland’s ICEYE to Provide Earth Observation Data
September 13, 2024
Finnish Earth observation data provider ICEYE has won a five-year contract with NASA to provide radar satellite imagery for Earth science and research purposes.
ICEYE owns and operates the world’s largest constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.
The 38-satellite constellation offers near real-time insights both during the day and at night for a variety of different applications.
On 9 September 2024, the company announced that it had signed a five-year contract with NASA to provide SAR data to NASA for Earth science and research applications.
The contract was awarded through the agency’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition programme. According to the company, it is a “continuation of ICEYE’s delivery of data.”
In April 2023, NASA awarded the company a five-year Blanket Purchase Agreement to provide SAR data for evaluation to determine whether or not it was suitable for “advancing NASA’s science and application goals.”
In August 2023, the company announced that it had received its first task order from NASA.
“NASA is excited to evaluate ICEYE data in the context of our Earth Science Research, Analysis, and Applications portfolios,” said NASA CSDA program scientist Will McCarty at the time.
“With the advent of SAR from commercial sources like ICEYE, we are interested in how these small satellite constellations can complement existing NASA datasets and capabilities.”
Despite being just 18 months into the five-year evaluation period, NASA appears to be satisfied enough with its findings to offer ICEYE a 5-year fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, multiple-award contract.
“NASA researchers, collaborating scientists, and academic partners will enjoy expanded access to a reliable, accurate radar data stream from the world’s largest commercial SAR constellation,” said Eric Jensen, CEO of ICEYE’s US subsidiary.
“We look forward to enabling the scientific discoveries that lie ahead.”
https://europeanspaceflight.com/nasa-taps-finlands-iceye-to-provide-earth-observation-data/
NASA astronaut on Space Station during 9/11 attack describes heart-wrenching experience
Sep. 11, 2024, 6:32 p.m. ET
NASA has shared a poignant letter from the only American not on Earth when 9/11 happened.
Space Station astronaut Frank Culbertson penned his thoughts in the hours and days after the terrorist attack on New York’s Twin Towers.
He also captured the scene on camera from 250 miles up, with a chilling image showing a smoke plume rising from the Manhattan area.
The space agency said on Tuesday: “The following is the text of a letter from Expedition Three Commander Frank L. Culbertson (Captain, USN Retired), reflecting on the events of September 11.”
The heart-breaking letter documents the spaceman’s reaction upon learning about the attack and then dealing with his emotions afterwards.
He wrote: “Well, obviously the world changed today. The flight surgeon told me they were having a very bad day on the ground. I had no idea …
“He described the situation to me as best he knew it at ~0900 CDT. I was flabbergasted, then horrified.
My first thought was that this wasn’t a real conversation, that I was still listening to one of my Tom Clancy tapes.
“It just didn’t seem possible on this scale in our country. I couldn’t even imagine the particulars, even before the news of further destruction began coming in.
“I zipped around the station until I found a window that would give me a view of NYC and grabbed the nearest camera.
It happened to be a video camera, and I was looking south from the window of Michael’s (Mikhail Tyurin, Russian flight engineer) cabin.
“The smoke seemed to have an odd bloom to it at the base of the column that was streaming south of the city.
After reading one of the news articles we just received, I believe we were looking at NY around the time of, or shortly after, the collapse of the second tower. How horrible …
“It’s difficult to describe how it feels to be the only American completely off the planet at a time such as this.
The feeling that I should be there with all of you, dealing with this, helping in some way, is overwhelming.
“I know that we are on the threshold (or beyond) of a terrible shift in the history of the world. Many things will never be the same again after September 11, 2001.
Not just for the thousands and thousands of people directly affected by these horrendous acts of terrorism, but probably for all of us.
We will find ourselves feeling differently about dozens of things, including probably space exploration, unfortunately.
“It’s horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point.
“Other than the emotional impact of our country being attacked and thousands of our citizens and maybe some friends being killed, the most overwhelming feeling being where I am is one of isolation.”
Frank would later learn that the plane that struck the Pentagon had been piloted at take-off by his Naval Academy classmate Charles Burlingame.
The two had been aeronautical engineering majors together, and had both gone on to become F-4 fighter pilots.
https://nypost.com/2024/09/11/us-news/nasa-astronaut-describes-learning-about-9-11-from-space-it-just-didnt-seem-possible/