[Spacetalk] https://www.nasa.gov/index.html

[Gabe Gabrielle]

Hi All,
 I had such an amazing time in Missouri last week. I visited  Wood Elem, Waynesville Middle, Freedom Elem, and Waynesville HS, spent a full day at the first three and half day at the HS….I could never do this without the support of teachers, especially in this case as due to severe flooding allot of adjustments were made at the last moment…I want to thank Kelly, Candy, Lyn & Adrian for their support…it was interesting to go through that range, varying from day to day…I feel it went very well, hopefully the teachers will feel the same…:-) :-) there was a space walk on the ISS to fix a failed relay…I hope you had a few minutes to share it with the kids….I know many of you are finishing up this week…it is mind boggling how fast time is going…check this out for a 1 minute info on space weather...https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/space-weather-events-linked-to-human-activity and another...https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/2016/spothubble Wishing you all a wonderful day...we must always remember to do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, make each day special, let those we care about most know, be thankful for the good in our lives, smile and have fun....gabe



Short Spacewalk Complete After Successful Installation Work <https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/wp-content/uploads/sites/240/2017/05/exp51_eva43_astro2fish.jpg>
Astronaut Jack Fischer waves while attached to the Destiny laboratory during a spacewalk to replace a failed data relay box and install a pair wireless antennas.Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/peggy-a-whitson> and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/jack-d-fischer> of NASA concluded their spacewalk at 10:06 p.m. EDT. During the spacewalk, which lasted two hours and 46 minutes, the two astronauts successfully replaced a computer relay box, and installed a pair of antennas on station to enhance wireless communication for future spacewalks. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 1,250 hours and 41 minutes working outside the station during 201 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. This was the 10th spacewalk for Whitson, who moves into third place all-time for cumulative spacewalking time, and the second for Fischer. For more information about the International Space Station, visit www.nasa.gov/station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>. 


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Slow Down! Scientists Spot Speeding 'Renegade' Supermassive Black Hole <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=822c5b1f0b9c009e832e08adc750ce48255617ea703d8427ff29e6a86e56b061aef77a360fc8d1b1051f46b343621aa55bee2deefc1628fd9c64e14672e277e7>




 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/edu_solar_system_large_0.png>
NASA Receives Proposals for Future Solar System Mission
NASA has received and is reviewing 12 proposals for future unmanned solar system exploration. The proposed missions of discovery – submitted under NASA’s New Frontiers <https://discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov/index.cfml> program – will undergo scientific and technical review over the next seven months. The goal is to select a mission for flight in about two years, with launch in the mid-2020s. “New Frontiers is about answering the biggest questions in our solar system today, building on previous missions to continue to push the frontiers of exploration,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “We’re looking forward to reviewing these exciting investigations and moving forward with our next bold mission of discovery.” Selection of one or more concepts for Phase A study will be announced in November. At the conclusion of Phase A concept studies, it is planned that one New Frontiers investigation will be selected to continue into subsequent mission phases. Mission proposals are selected following an extensive competitive peer review process. Investigations for this announcement of opportunity were limited to six mission themes:

Comet Surface Sample Return
Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return
Ocean Worlds (Titan and/or Enceladus)
Saturn Probe
Trojan Tour and Rendezvous
Venus In Situ Explorer

The New Frontiers Program conducts principal investigator (PI)-led space science investigations in SMD’s planetary program under a development cost cap of approximately $1 billion. This would be the fourth mission in the New Frontiers portfolio; its predecessors are the New Horizons <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html> mission to Pluto, the Juno <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html>mission to Jupiter, and OSIRIS-REx <https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex>, which will rendezvous with and return a sample of asteroid Bennu. New Frontiers Program investigations must address NASA’s planetary science objectives as described in the 2014 NASA Strategic Plan and the 2014 NASA Science Plan. <http://science1.nasa.gov/about-us/science-strategy/> The New Frontiers Program is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center for NASA’s Planetary Science Division. Read more about NASA’s New Frontiers Program and missions at: https://discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov/index.cfml <https://discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov/index.cfml>

200th Station Spacewalk Comes to an End

Astronaut Jack Fischer is tethered to the outside of the International Space Station during the 200th spacewalk to install and repair gear with astronaut Peggy Whitson.

Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/peggy-a-whitson> and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/jack-d-fischer> of NASA concluded their spacewalk at 1:21 p.m. EDT. During the spacewalk, which lasted just over four hours, the two astronauts successfully replaced a large avionics box that supplies electricity and data connections to the science experiments  The astronauts also completed additional tasks to install a connector that will route data to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/space-station-experiment-marks-five-years-probing-cosmic-ray-mysteries>, repair insulation at the connecting point of the Japanese robotic arm, and install a protective shield on the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3. This adapter will host a new international docking port for the arrival of commercial crew spacecraft. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 1,247 hours and 55 minutes working outside the station during 200 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. The first spacewalk in support of International Space Station assembly and maintenance was conducted on Dec. 7, 1998, by NASA astronauts Jerry Ross and Jim Newman during space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-88 mission. Astronauts completed attaching and outfitting of the first two components of the station, the Russian Zarya module and the U.S. Unity module. For more information about the International Space Station, visit www.nasa.gov/station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>.


Mars Curiosity <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html> <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/curiosityrover_buckskinpanorama_pia19808.jpg>

 <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-mars-crust-contributing-to-atmosphere/#> <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-mars-crust-contributing-to-atmosphere/#> <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-mars-crust-contributing-to-atmosphere/#> <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-mars-crust-contributing-to-atmosphere/#> <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-mars-crust-contributing-to-atmosphere/#>
Curiosity Finds Evidence of Mars Crust Contributing to Atmosphere
NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence that chemistry in the surface material on Mars contributed dynamically to the makeup of its atmosphere over time. It’s another clue that the history of the Red Planet’s atmosphere is more complex and interesting than a simple legacy of loss. The findings come from the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, instrument suite, which studied the gases xenon and krypton in Mars’ atmosphere. The two gases can be used as tracers to help scientists investigate the evolution and erosion of the Martian atmosphere. A lot of information about xenon and krypton in Mars’ atmosphere came from analyses of Martian meteorites and measurements made by the Viking mission.

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/atmosphere_contributions_final.png>
Chemistry that takes place in the surface material on Mars can explain why particular xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr) isotopes are more abundant in the Martian atmosphere than expected. The isotopes – variants that have different numbers of neutrons – are formed in the loose rocks and material that make up the regolith. The chemistry begins when cosmic rays penetrate into the surface material. If the cosmic rays strike an atom of barium (Ba), the barium can lose one or more of its neutrons (n0). Atoms of xenon can pick up some of those neutrons – a process called neutron capture – to form the isotopes xenon-124 and xenon-126. In the same way, atoms of bromine (Br) can lose some of their neutrons to krypton, leading to the formation of krypton-80 and krypton-82 isotopes. These isotopes can enter the atmosphere when the regolith is disturbed by impacts and abrasion and gas escapes from the regolith.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
 <applewebdata://DA64701D-826F-4104-8798-2D75510FF11F>
“What we found is that earlier studies of xenon and krypton only told part of the story,” said Pamela Conrad, lead author of the report and SAM’s deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “SAM is now giving us the first complete in situ benchmark against which to compare meteorite measurements.”


 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/sam_msl20101006_img_3098.jpg>
The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite on NASA’s Curiosity rover.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterOf particular interest to scientists are the ratios of certain isotopes – or chemical variants – of xenon and krypton. The SAM team ran a series of first-of-a-kind experiments to measure all the isotopes of xenon and krypton in the Martian atmosphere. The experiments are described in a paper published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

The team’s method is called static mass spectrometry, and it’s good for detecting gases or isotopes that are present only in trace amounts. Although static mass spectrometry isn’t a new technique, its use on the surface of another planet is something only SAM has done.


Overall, the analysis agreed with earlier studies, but some isotope ratios were a bit different than expected. When working on an explanation for those subtle but important differences, the researchers realized that neutrons might have gotten transferred from one chemical element to another within the surface material on Mars. The process is called neutron capture, and it would explain why a few selected isotopes were more abundant than previously thought possible.


In particular, it looks as if some of the barium surrendered neutrons that got picked up by xenon to produce higher-than-expected levels of the isotopes xenon-124 and 126. Likewise, bromine might have surrendered some of its neutrons to produce unusual levels of krypton-80 and krypton-82.

These isotopes could have been released into the atmosphere by impacts on the surface and by gas escaping from the regolith, which is the soil and broken rocks of the surface. “SAM’s measurements provide evidence of a really interest process in which the rock and unconsolidated material at the planet’s surface have contributed to the xenon and krypton isotopic composition of the atmosphere in a dynamic way,” said Conrad. The atmospheres of Earth and Mars exhibit very different patterns of xenon and krypton isotopes, particularly for xenon-129. Mars has much more of it in the atmosphere than does Earth. “The unique capability to measure in situ the six and nine different isotopes of krypton and xenon allows scientists to delve into the complex interactions between the Martian atmosphere and crust,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Discovering these interactions through time allows us to gain a greater understanding of planetary evolution.” NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to determine if life was possible on Mars and study major changes in Martian environmental conditions. NASA studies Mars to learn more about our own planet, and in preparation for future human missions to Mars. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.




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