A new Earth-observing mission launches to space …
A move to make room aboard the space station …
And some valuable space station science returns to Earth … a few of the stories to tell
you about – This Week at NASA!
“And liftoff. Liftoff of an Altas V rocket and Landsat 9!”
On Sept. 27, our Landsat 9 satellite launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
This joint mission with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will capture images of Earth
from space that will be added to the nearly 50 years of freely available Landsat data
researchers and officials use to monitor the health of Earth and manage essential resources.
Learn more at nasa.gov/landsat9.
On Sept. 28, aboard the International Space Station, three crew members, including our
Mark Vande Hei, relocated their Soyuz spacecraft from the station’s Rassvet module to the
brand new “Nauka” Multipurpose Laboratory Module. It is the first time a spacecraft
has docked to Nauka. The move also frees up Rassvet for the Oct. 5 arrival of another
Soyuz spacecraft.
A SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply spacecraft left the space station on Sept. 30 to return
more than 4,600 pounds of supplies and valuable science to Earth. The experiments include
research on neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, a study that could help
treat muscle atrophy in elderly people on Earth, and more. This was SpaceX’s 23rd
Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA.
On Sept. 30, engineers at our Stennis Space Center conducted a hot fire test of an RS-25
engine on the center’s A-1 test stand. This was the seventh and final planned test of
the current test series to support development and production of the engine for our Space
Launch System (SLS) rocket. Four RS-25s will help power the SLS on future Moon missions,
including Artemis I targeted for later this year. For more details, visit: nasa.gov/SLS.
For the next few weeks, we will be mostly incommunicado with our fleet of spacecraft
on and around Mars. This communications “time out” happens about every two years during
Mars solar conjunction – when Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun, and
can’t “see” each other. Sending radio signal commands to spacecraft during this
time is risky, because solar activity can corrupt those commands and cause unexpected
behavior.
Researchers using data from our Hubble Space Telescope have determined that the wind speeds
just inside the boundary of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot are accelerating. Their research
shows that the average wind speed in this region of the storm increased by up to 8 percent
from 2009 to 2020. The massive storm spins counterclockwise at more than 400 miles per
hour – and the vortex is bigger than Earth itself.
NASA has transferred findings from the agency’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 or (ATD-2)
project to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for nationwide implementation. Over
the past six years, the project demonstrated this suite of airport operations tools at
several U.S. airports to save fuel, reduce carbon emissions, and increase information
sharing between the FAA and industry. Find out more at nasa.gov/aeronautics.
On Sept. 30, our Armstrong Flight Research Center marked its 75th year of innovation,
milestones, and discoveries. In its early history, the center helped achieve the first
supersonic flight. Today, Armstrong continues its groundbreaking aeronautics research, as
well as work in space transportation and in many Earth and space science missions. Check
out go.nasa.gov/armstrong75 for more about Armstrong’s 75th anniversary.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA … For more on these and other stories, follow us
on the web at nasa.gov/twan.