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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
November 20, 2024
Earthset from Orion
Eight billion people are about to disappear in this snapshot from space taken on 2022 November 21. On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, their home world is setting behind the Moon's bright edge as viewed by an external camera on the outbound Orion spacecraft. Orion was headed for a powered flyby that took it to within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface. Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver was used to reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That orbit is considered distant because it's another 92,000 kilometers beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft orbited in the opposite direction of the Moon's orbit around planet Earth. Orion entered its distant retrograde orbit on November 25. Swinging around the Moon, Orion reached a maximum distance (just over 400,000 kilometers) from Earth on November 28, exceeding a record set by Apollo 13 for most distant spacecraft designed for human space exploration. The Artemis II mission, carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back again, is scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2025.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
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Space Station Raises Orbit Avoiding Orbital Debris
November 19, 2024
The Progress 89 thrusters were fired at 2:09 p.m. CST today for 5 minutes, 31 seconds, to raise the orbit of the International Space Station to provide an extra margin of distance from a piece of orbital debris from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that broke up in 2015.
The Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) was conducted in coordination with NASA, Roscosmos and the other space station partners.
Without the maneuver, ballistics officials estimated that the fragment could have come within around 2 ½ miles of the station.
The maneuver had no impact on station operations and will not affect Thursday’s scheduled launch of the Progress 90 cargo craft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2024/11/19/space-station-raises-orbit-avoiding-orbital-debris/
Super Insulation Requires Super Materials
Nov 19, 2024
Without proper insulation, sunlight can make buildings feel like ovens. In the late 1980s, Joseph Pritchett aimed to solve this problem by developing a coating for building insulation.
He knew of NASA’s experience with thermal testing, particularly with ceramics, which have several uses for the agency.
Their heat-resistant properties make them excellent materials for spacecraft reentry shields, and their durability is perfect for airplane components.
Pritchett thought by infusing paints with both insulating ceramic compounds and tough, resilient polymers, he could develop an insulation coating with the best features of both.
Pritchett contacted the materials lab at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, through the center’s Technology Transfer Office.
The facility had many ways to test heat-resistant materials, and the Marshall engineers and research scientists provided Pritchett with lists of material compounds to test for his insulation coating.
Over a period of six years, Pritchett tested every compound on the lists NASA provided, narrowing down the potential compounds until he found the ideal insulation.
Pritchett founded Superior Products International II, Inc. of Shawnee, Kansas, in 1995. 
His product, dubbed Super Therm, is a composite of both ceramic and polymeric materials. In 2011, when tested by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, Pritchett’s product proved successful in saving energy when cooling homes.
The engineers at Marshall played a pivotal role in Super Therm’s development, as their knowledge was key to finding the right ceramic material.
In addition to insulation for buildings, the material has been used in other industrial applications, such as keeping equipment like tanks and pumps cool on oil rigs.
Pritchett’s Super Therm is yet another example of how NASA’s Technology Transfer Program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate drives innovation in commercial industry.
https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/super-insulation-requires-super-materials/