OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

Better and faster computers have improved how we model and study Earth. More information is the other piece of the puzzle improving how we model and forecast our planet’s atmosphere.

Since 1980, the 10th anniversary of Earth Day, the number of observing systems, which include satellites, weather balloons, and even instruments flown on commercial airlines, have dramatically increased — from 175,000 observations gathered over a six-hour period in 1980 to around 5 million observations in 2018.

The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) modeling and data assimilation system to produce estimates of Earth’s atmospheric state by combining short-term forecasts with observations from numerous observing systems. The GEOS modeling system helps us see Earth more clearly and better understand our atmosphere and how it changes.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Katie Jepson (USRA): Producer/Will McCarty (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Will McCarty (NASA/GSFC): Animator/Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Visualizer/Steven Pawson (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Wikipedia dicit:

The Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST (“Quiet Supersonic Transport”) is an American experimental supersonic aircraft being developed at Skunk Works for NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator program. Preliminary design started in February 2016, with the X-59 scheduled for delivery in late 2021 for flight tests from 2022. It is expected to cruise at Mach 1.42 (1,510 km/h; 937 mph) and 55,000 ft (16,800 m), creating a low 75 Perceived Level decibel (PLdB) thump to evaluate supersonic transport acceptability.

Video credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin

NASA dicit:

Bee-lieve it or not NASA could send a swarm of robot bees to the Red Planet. Researchers are taking inspiration from the insect world to develop Marsbee, a bold new idea that could enhance the exploration of Mars.

This is a research study within the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. NIAC is a visionary and far-reaching aerospace program, one that has the potential to create breakthrough technologies for possible future space missions. However, such early stage technology developments may never become actual NASA missions.

Video credit: NASA

NASA dicit:

Dragonfly is a NASA mission to explore the chemistry and habitability of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The fourth mission in the New Frontiers line, Dragonfly will send an autonomously-operated rotorcraft to visit dozens of sites on Titan, investigating the moon’s surface and shallow subsurface for organic molecules and possible biosignatures. To carry out its mission, Dragonfly is equipped with a neutron spectrometer, a drill system, and a mass spectrometer, allowing scientists to make a detailed survey of Titan’s chemical makeup. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Johns Hopkins APL/Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer, Narrator, Writer/Jonathan North (USRA): Lead Animator/Melissa Trainer (NASA/GSFC): Lead Writer, Scientist/ Michael Lentz (USRA): Animator/Ann Parsons (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Elizabeth Turtle (Johns Hopkins University/APL): Scientist/Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support

Wikipedia dicit:

In 2019, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope celebrated the full mechanical and electrical assembly of the world’s largest, most powerful space science observatory ever built. Webb’s two halves have been physically put together and its wiring harnesses and electrical interfaces have been connected.

Following assembly, the Webb team moved on to successfully send deployment and tensioning commands to all five layers of its sunshield, which is designed to protect the observatory’s mirrors and scientific instruments from light and heat, primarily from the Sun.

Ensuring mission success for an observatory of this scale and complexity is a challenging endeavor. All of the telescope’s major components have been tested individually through simulated environments they would encounter during launch, and while orbiting a million miles away from Earth. Now that Webb is fully assembled, it must meet rigorous observatory-level standards. The complete spacecraft reacts and performs differently to testing environments than when its components are tested individually.

Following Webb’s successful sunshield deployment and tensioning test, team members have nearly finished the long process of perfectly folding the sunshield back into its stowed position for flight, which occupies a much smaller space than when it is fully deployed. Then, the observatory will be subjected to comprehensive electrical tests and one more set of mechanical tests that emulate the launch acoustic and vibration environment, followed by one final deployment and stowing cycle on the ground, before its flight into space. The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2021.

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md./Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support/Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Videographer/Sophia Roberts (AIMM): Videographer/Michael P. Menzel (AIMM): Video Editor

Wikipedia dicit:

OmegA is a launch vehicle in development by Northrop Grumman as an NSSL replacement program intended for national security and commercial satellites.

OmegA is similar to the defunct Ares I and Liberty projects, both of which consisted of a five segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) and a cryogenic second stage. Ares I would have combined a five-segment SRB with a J-2X powered second stage, while Liberty would have used a five-segment SRB with the core stage of the European Ariane 5 as a second stage. By comparison, OmegA consists of new composite solid rocket stages with a cryogenic upper stage provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne. This is replacing earlier plans to use an upper stage provided by Blue Origin. It is intended to be launched from Kennedy Space Center LC-39B or Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-6.

OmegA is proposed as a vehicle to launch national security satellites for the United States Air Force, and could launch other government and commercial payloads, including to geostationary transfer orbit. Crewed spacecraft could also be launched, just as the predecessor Ares I and Liberty rockets, which were designed to launch the Orion space capsule.

Video credit: Northrop Grumman