Bonjour de Paris! During the last week of June, ~170 members of the Mars 2020 Science Team convened across the Atlantic for a 4-day meeting in Paris hosted by our French colleagues from the Supercam team. The Science Team usually works remotely to operate the rover and discuss new science results, but with the severity […]
Another busy day of Food Physiology science and station upgrades is underway today for the Expedition 69 crew on the International Space Station. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio spent most of his day continuing work for the Food Physiology investigation, collecting various samples and stowing them for future space and ground-based analysis, as well as …
Payloads: Food Physiology: The crew collected samples in support of the Food Physiology investigation. The Integrated Impact of Diet on Human Immune Response, the Gut Microbiota, and Nutritional Status During Adaptation to Spaceflight (Food Physiology) experiment is designed to characterize the key effects of an enhanced spaceflight diet on immune function, the gut microbiome, and …
Three Expedition 69 crew members spent their day on the International Space Station performing work in the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, while other crew members completed a variety of Food Physiology experiments and hearing assessments. NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi performed maintenance …
Payloads: Astrobee: The Astrobee systems were powered on and stowage in the area cleared away to allow the performance of free-flight maneuvers. This type of activity is commonly called “crew minimal” and the goal is for the ground to command the Astrobee experiment systems to complete the session objectives with minimal crew involvement. Astrobee is …
NASA's Parker Solar Probe accomplished a milestone on June 27, 2023 – its 16th orbit of the Sun.
After a weekend off-duty, the Expedition 69 crew is kicking off their week with a variety of experiment preparations and system maintenance on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen started his day removing HICARI-2 samples from the Gradient Heating Furnace (GHF) in the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo. Hicari is an experiment led by …
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 7:14 p.m. ET on July 2, 2023. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to …
Payloads: Cold Atom Lab (CAL): A checkout of the of the new CAL fiber optic inspection system was successfully performed. CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero — much colder than the average temperature of deep space. At these low temperatures, atoms have …
Editor's Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process. On June 25, 2023, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope turned to famed ringed world Saturn for its first near-infrared observations of the planet. The initial imagery from Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) is already fascinating researchers. Saturn …
