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    Unexpected Turbulence for the S-MODE Airborne Instruments

    By Dragana Perkovic-Martin, Principal Investigator for DopplerScatt at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory // SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA // 10/25/2021 The first message I read this morning is that Ernesto, one of the deputy Principal Investigators on the S-MODE project and our project scientist for DopplerScatt, has succumbed to food poisoning. So, I am going to be making …

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    NASA’s DART Spacecraft Fueled in Payload Processing Facility

    Technicians lower NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft onto a work stand inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 4, 2021. The mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 23, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg.

    Processing of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft continues as the spacecraft was transported from the Astrotech Space Operations Facility to the SpaceX Payload Processing Facility (PPF), part of Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Oct. 26. The following day, the spacecraft was removed from its container and …

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    Active October Sun Releases X-Class Flare

    A small portion of the Sun is shown in shades of red, black, and yellow. Two bright yellow regions appear in contrast to the surrounding areas, which appear as patches of dark red and black.

    Brighter than a shimmering ghost, faster than the flick of a black cat's tail, the Sun cast a spell in our direction, just in time for Halloween. This imagery captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory covers a busy few days of activity between Oct. 25-28 that ended with a significant solar flare. From late afternoon …

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    The Journey to Kourou

    Webb is loaded onto the MN Colibri

    Congratulations to Arianespace on last weekend's launch of two communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit aboard an Ariane 5. The launch pad is now cleared to receive Webb, which has arrived at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou and has begun preparations for its December launch. To hear more about the journey to French Guiana, and the …

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    Sun Releases Significant Solar Flare

    A satellite image of the Sun, colored in teal, shows a bright flare at the Sun's lower center.

    The Sun emitted a significant solar flare peaking at 11:35 a.m. EDT on Oct. 28, 2021. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, …

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    Liftoff! Aircraft Experiments Take Flight for NASA’s S-MODE Mission

    NASA King Air B200 aircraft on arrival at Ames Research Center carrying DopplerScatt and MOSES instruments. Credit: Erin Czech / NASA Ames Research Center.

    By Dragana Perkovic-Martin, Principal Investigator for DopplerScatt at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory // SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA // The first of three aircraft participating in the S-MODE campaign has arrived at Moffett Field in California. The NASA King Air B200 aircraft, carrying two science instruments – DopplerScatt and MOSES – landed on October 18th and is preparing …

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    Lucy Stable in Cruise Mode

    The Lucy spacecraft remains in cruise mode, which is the standard flight mode for outbound flight and allows for substantial autonomy for the spacecraft. The spacecraft has successfully executed several small planned maneuvers, which have had no adverse effect on the one solar array that is not fully deployed. On Oct. 29, NASA will adjust …

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    NASA’s DART Readied for its Mission to Bump an Asteroid

    Illustration of the DART spacecraft with the Roll Out Solar Arrays extended.

    NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, the first designed to deflect an asteroid, arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 2, 2021. The spacecraft was transported by truck from a cleanroom at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. Inside Astrotech, the APL …

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    Media Invited to Launch of NASA’s IXPE Mission

    Media is invited to view the launch of NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the first satellite mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources. IXPE is scheduled to launch Dec. 9, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A in Florida. It …

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    NASA’s IXPE Spacecraft to Launch Dec. 9

    Artist rendition of NASA's IXPE

    NASA's newest X-ray astronomy mission, Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), is scheduled to launch Dec. 9, 2021. IXPE will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A in Florida. The launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy. IXPE will study changes in the polarization of …

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