As of Nov. 27, 2022, InSight is generating an average between 285 and 295 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .95 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).
NASA’s PACE Mission Undergoes Milestone Testing
NASA's PACE mission, which will provide a major boost to scientists studying Earth's atmosphere and ocean health, completed a milestone test in October at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) on the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission passed thermal vacuum tests to ensure it can …
NASA’s Surface Water Satellite to Launch Thursday, Dec. 15
NASA, the French space agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales, and SpaceX are now targeting 3:46 a.m. PST Thursday, Dec.15, for the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. The new date allows for additional time to complete prelaunch processing and checkouts of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. SWOT will be NASA's first …
Artemis I — I Flight Day 14: Deep Space Testing Continues
Engineers continued with the jet firing development flight test objective that began on flight day 12. Today, teams demonstrated the “low” portion of the reaction control thruster firing time range. This test objective is designed to exercise the reaction control system jets in a different configuration to model how thruster jets will be used during …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/29/2022
Payloads: ICE Cubes #7: Experiment Cubes were removed for the ICE Cubes Facility and replaced with new cubes which recently arrived on SpX-26. The Artery in Microgravity – Orbit Your Thesis! (Ice Cubes #7) is a student-built experiment, part of the European Space Agency’s “Orbit Your Thesis!” program that investigates blood flow through models of …
New Experiments, Upcoming Spacewalks Keep Station Crew Busy
New science experiments delivered aboard a U.S. cargo craft are being activated aboard the International Space Station this week. The Expedition 68 crew is also preparing for upcoming spacewalks in December. NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Frank Rubio worked together on Tuesday unloading research samples from the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft. The duo carefully …
Artemis I — Flight Day 13: Orion Goes the (Max) Distance
NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft reached the farthest distance from Earth it will travel during the Artemis I mission — 268,563 miles from our home planet — just after 3 p.m. CST. The spacecraft also captured imagery of Earth and the Moon together throughout the day, including of the Moon appearing to eclipse Earth. Reaching the …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/28/2022
SpaceX-26 (SpX-26) Launch and Dock: The SpX-26 Dragon spacecraft launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:20 PM CT on Saturday, November 26th, and docked to the ISS the following morning at 6:39 AM CT. The spacecraft is carrying more than 7,700 pounds of research, supplies, and hardware to the ISS. Payloads: Faraday Research Facility-2: …
NASA Webb Image Coming This Week
NASA will share a new image or spectrum from the James Webb Space Telescope at least every other week on the mission's blog. This week, check the blog on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. EST for new images highlighting one of Saturn's moons. In the meantime, learn more about what to expect as Webb observations make …