NASA News – Week Ending December 8 2023

NASA News – Week Ending December 8 2023

• The first images from our Psyche spacecraft.
• Celebrating an anniversary for the space station.
• And a new tool to help fight climate change.

A few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which launched on Oct. 13, captured the mission’s first images – a milestone called “first light.”  As part of a test of the spacecraft’s science instruments, Psyche’s twin-camera imager instrument captured a total of 68 images within a star field in the constellation Pisces. The “first light” images were used to make up a mosaic. The spacecraft will arrive at its destination – the asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter – in 2029.

On Dec. 6, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of International Space Station operations with a space-to-Earth call between the station crew, and NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana and International Space Station Program Manager Joel Montalbano.

On Dec. 6, 1998, the first two elements of the orbital outpost, Unity and Zarya, were mated together during space shuttle mission STS-88. Cabana was the commander of that mission and became the first American to enter the space station. Learn more about the International Space Station at nasa.gov/station.

During the 28th annual United Nations Climate Conference, NASA and other U.S. government agencies unveiled the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center. This multi-agency effort consolidates greenhouse gas data gathered by space, airborne, and ground-based assets. The goal is to provide researchers, decision-makers, and others with one location for greenhouse gas data and analysis.

NASA has selected 72 student teams to compete in the Human Exploration Rover Challenge next April near our Marshall Space Flight Center. The annual challenge, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2024, gives high school, college, and university students an opportunity to design, build, and operate lightweight, human-powered rovers on an obstacle course simulating lunar and Martian terrain, all while completing mission-focused science tasks.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA. For more about what else we’re up to, check out nasa.gov.