NASA News – Two Weeks Of Nasa News Ending June 7th, 2024

NASA News – Two Weeks Of Nasa News Ending June 7th, 2024

• Launching a pair of Earth-observing small satellites.
• An intriguing planet discovered outside of our solar system.
• And its “full cruise ahead” for our mission to a metal-rich asteroid.
• Getting ready to image faraway planets.
• Discussing artificial intelligence at NASA.
• And a milestone for our supersonic X-plane.
  A few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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On May 25, the first pair of Earth-observing climate satellites for our
PREFIRE mission launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand. The
shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, will measure the amount of heat
that radiates into space from Earth’s poles – two of the coldest, most remote
regions on the planet. Data from the mission will help researchers better
predict how Earth’s ice, seas, and weather will change in a warming world.

Using observations by our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS
mission and many other facilities, two international teams of astronomers have
discovered a planet outside of our solar system that is between the sizes of Earth
and Venus. The planet, called Gliese 12 b, orbits a cool red dwarf star located about
40 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. Multiple factors make it a
candidate well-suited for further study using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Our Psyche spacecraft recently passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of
health. The spacecraft, which is on its way to study a metal-rich asteroid, also
named Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is already
beyond the distance of Mars. For the next year, the spacecraft will be in what
mission planners call “full cruise” mode – using its ion propulsion thrusters
to propel it toward the asteroid belt. Data from the mission will help scientists
better understand the formation of rocky planets with metallic cores,
including Earth.

The Euclid mission, led by ESA – the European Space Agency – with contributions
from NASA, has released five new images that showcase the space telescope’s
ability to explore dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is an invisible
substance with an unknown composition that is five times more common in the
universe than “regular” matter. Dark energy is the name given to the unknown
source causing the universe to expand faster and faster. The mission, which
launched in July 2023, will complement future dark energy studies by NASA’s
upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission.

The Roman Coronagraph Instrument for our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
was recently shipped from our Jet Propulsion Laboratory to our Goddard Space
Flight Center. The coronagraph will test new tools that block starlight to reveal
planets hidden by light from their parent stars. The instrument will demonstrate
technologies that could help pave the way for future missions searching for
habitable worlds outside our solar system – like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds
Observatory. The Roman Space Telescope is targeted for launch by May 2027.

On May 22, agency leaders hosted an Artificial Intelligence, or AI town hall
at our headquarters in Washington. The event provided an opportunity to discuss
how NASA is using and developing a variety of AI tools
to advance missions and research.

Learn more about artificial intelligence at the agency
at nasa.gov/artificial-intelligence.

Our team for the quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft has taken the next step toward
verifying the airworthiness of the plane by completing a milestone Flight Readiness
Review. This review allows the X-59 to progress toward flight.

The X-59 is being developed as part of NASA’s Quesst mission to reduce the sound
of the typical sonic boom associated with supersonic flight
to a quieter sonic “thump.”

As part of our efforts to expand commercial resupply in low Earth orbit,
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane recently arrived at our
Kennedy Space Center to prepare for its first flight
to the International Space Station.

Before Kennedy, the uncrewed spaceplane and its cargo module were at our Neil
Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

While there, the Dream Chaser was exposed to vibrations like it will experience
during launch and re-entry, as well as the low ambient pressures and extreme
temperatures it will encounter in space. The spaceplane, named Tenacity, is
expected to deliver 7,800 pounds of cargo to the space station
later this year.

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