This Week @NASA, July 7, 2023

• What the Webb telescope found way back in the early Universe …
• Another hot trip around the Sun for our Parker Solar Probe …
• And we’re back in touch with our helicopter on Mars … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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Webb Detects Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Hole to Date

Researchers have used our James Webb Space Telescope to discover the most distant active supermassive black hole to date. The black hole, which is less massive than any other black hole yet identified in the early universe, was discovered in a galaxy which existed just over 570 million years after the big bang. Find out more at nasa.gov/webb.

Parker Solar Probe Completes 16th Orbit of the Sun

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe recently completed its 16th orbit of the Sun. This included a close approach, known as perihelion, during which the spacecraft came within 5.3 million miles of the solar surface. In August, Parker Solar Probe will fly by Venus – using the planet’s gravity to help set up an even closer perihelion in the future. These close approaches will help us learn more about heliophysics.

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Phones Home

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team recently re-established contact with the helicopter after about 63 days of being incommunicado. Ingenuity’s most recent flight took it behind a hill, which blocked communications between Ingenuity and the Perseverance rover – which acts as a radio relay between the helicopter and Earth. Contact was re-established when Perseverance drove up the hill and back into Ingenuity’s line of sight.

NASA’s X-59 Moves Closer to Runway

Our X-59 aircraft was recently moved from its construction site to the flight line at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Southern California. The move is one of many milestones in preparing the plane for its first flight. The X-59 is designed to demonstrate the ability to fly supersonic while producing just a quiet sonic thump instead of the loud sonic boom typically associated with supersonic flight.

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