Blogs

December 2019 marked the beginning of Solar Cycle 25. The Sun's activity has quickly ramped up and even though we haven't reached peak levels in this cycle, the Sun's activity is already exceeding predictions. Solar events will continue to increase as we near solar maximum in 2025, and our lives and technology on Earth, as …

Payloads: Cold Atom Lab (CAL): Leaking compression fittings were tightened on the Cold Atom Lab MTL Jumper hoses and routine maintenance was performed on the Parker Quick Disconnect (QD) hardware. The CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero — much colder than the …

The Expedition 67 crewmembers aboard the International Space Station spent Tuesday predominantly on research, maintenance, and cargo transfer operations. Research beneficial to humans on Earth and future crews in space is happening around the clock aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren used a majority of his day to service samples for the Immunosenescence investigation inside the Life Science …

With the recent cancellation of the 2022 launch of NASA's Psyche spacecraft, NASA is assessing options for its Janus mission, which was scheduled to launch as a rideshare on the same rocket. Janus is a SIMPLEx-class mission originally designed to send two small satellites (SmallSats) to study two near-Earth binary asteroid systems orbiting between Earth …

On July 24, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 408 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .94 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

Payloads: Fiber Optic Production-2 (FOP-2): FOP-2 operations are concluded, and the hardware was removed from the MSG and stowed. FOP-2 builds on previous work to manufacture commercial optical fibers in microgravity using a blend of elements called ZBLAN. Earlier theoretical and experimental studies suggest ZBLAN optical fibers produced in microgravity exhibit qualities superior to those …

The final crew member for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission, currently targeted to launch to the International Space Station in spring 2023, has been announced. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) named Sultan Alneyadi to spend approximately six months aboard the space station as part of Expeditions 68/69. Mission Specialist …

The Expedition 67 crew members kicked off their work week setting up for experiments later in the week and completing orbital plumbing duties. NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti supported the Rodent Research-22 experiment. The space biology experiment observes how microgravity affects tissue regeneration. In the morning, NASA Flight …

Final work continues to prepare the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for Artemis I. Teams have identified placeholder dates for potential launch opportunities. They include:  Aug. 29 at 8:33 a.m. EDT (Two-hour launch window); Landing Oct. 10  Sept. 2 at 12:48 p.m. (Two-hour launch window); Landing …

Payloads: Astrobee-Zero Robotics: Astrobee Free Flyers were prepared in the JEM and the crew assisted the ground team in conducting multiple test runs of autonomous robotic maneuvering in support of a student robotics competition dry run. For Astrobee-Zero Robotics, students write software to control one of the space station’s Astrobee free-flying robots. The first several …