NASA News – Weeks Ending June 16th And June 23rd of 2023

This Week @NASA, June 16 & June 23 of 2023

• Equipping the space station to produce more power …
• Our newest experimental X-plane …
• And preparing to test a new laser communications system
• Showcasing our new Earth Information Center …
• In search of an atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet …
• And getting ready for an important delivery … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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Equipping the Space Station to Produce More Power

On June 15, NASA astronauts Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg conducted their second spacewalk in a week to install an upgraded International Space Station Roll Out Solar Array, or IROSA. This was the last of six new IROSAs currently planned for the station. The new arrays are designed to augment the station’s power system and enable the orbiting laboratory to generate about 30% more power.

Next Generation Experimental Aircraft is Newest X-Plane

During the AIAA Aviation forum the week of June 12 in San Diego, NASA and Boeing announced that the experimental aircraft produced through the agency’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project has become our newest X-plane – designated by the U.S. Air Force as the X-66A. Working with NASA, Boeing will build, test, and fly the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing concept aircraft with the specific goal of helping the U.S. achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Orion to Test Laser Communications on Artemis II

The Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts around the Moon on our Artemis II mission will also test a new laser communications terminal known as the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System, or O2O. Laser communications systems offer increased data transfer rates that allow more information to be sent in a single transmission than with traditional radio wave systems. More data could mean more discoveries.

Curiosity Captures Martian Morning, Afternoon in New “Postcard”

Our Curiosity Mars rover recently captured this composite image of an area known as “Marker Band Valley.” The image combines a morning scene, an afternoon scene, and added color for artistic interpretation. The combined dramatically different lighting conditions at those times of day make details in the scene stand out. Marker Band Valley is in the region where the rover unexpectedly discovered signs of an ancient lake.

Showcasing the New Earth Information Center

On June 21, we hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at our headquarters in Washington to showcase NASA’s new Earth Information Center. The center is part physical space and part virtual experience. It shows how data from Earth-monitoring satellites and instruments that we make available to researchers and others can help improve life on Earth in the face of disasters, environmental challenges, and climate change. NASA created the Earth Information Center with several partner agencies. Learn more at climate.nasa.gov.

Webb Characterizes Rocky Exoplanet

An international team of researchers has used our James Webb Space Telescope to calculate the amount of heat energy coming from the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c. The result suggests that if there is an atmosphere around the rocky exoplanet, it is extremely thin. This result marks another step in determining whether planets orbiting small red dwarfs like the host star in the TRAPPIST system – can sustain atmospheres needed to support life as we know it.

OSIRIS-REx Mission Asteroid Sample Will Have New Home in Houston

A new curation facility at our Johnson Space Center will eventually house the sample material from asteroid Bennu that is being returned to Earth by our OSIRIS-REx mission. The new facility will enable researchers to preserve, protect, handle, and examine the rock and dust samples – or regolith. The samples could provide insight into what role ancient asteroids like Bennu may have played in the formation of planets and other processes that may have ultimately led to life on Earth. The O-REx return capsule is scheduled to land in the Utah desert in late September.

40 Years Ago: STS-7 and the Flight of Sally Ride

On June 18, we marked the 40-year anniversary of the late Sally Ride becoming the first American woman in space. Ride journeyed to orbit on that date in 1983 aboard space shuttle Challenger on STS-7 as part of NASA’s first five-person crew. The six-day mission also featured the first release and retrieval of a satellite using the Canadian robotic arm, and the launches of two other satellites.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA … For more on these and other stories, follow us on the web at nasa.gov/twan.