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

Thu Sep 24 22:55:45 CDT 2020

Hi all,

I wanted to get this to you as it starts on Saturday…these virtual events are really fun…I hope you will get the kids to sign up…also hope with the current school situations of everyone dealing with the virus you are finding time to share some of the excitement of the space program…
We have to remember to do our best, enjoy everything we do, believe in ourselves, and let those we care about most know (I always say this, we all need to take it to heart) …hugs & smiles... :-) :-) STAY SAFE, TAKE CARE, Love ya, Gabe

> 
>  	September 23, 2020 
> RELEASE 20-090
> NASA Invites Students to Join the Artemis Generation at SciFest Virtual Event
> Venture with NASA to discover the future of flight, understand the portrait of planet Earth, and take the next steps in exploration at SciFest, the virtual STEM expo from the USA Science and Engineering Festival. The free event, which runs from Saturday, Sept. 26, through Saturday, Oct. 3, will feature NASA researchers, scientists, engineers, and technicians discussing various topics related to science, technology, engineering and math.
> 
> A virtual greeting from Thomas Zurbuchen, associate for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, invites the Artemis Generation to enter and explore the NASA Hall, where visitors can download games and activities and ask NASA what it takes to join its mission to make new discoveries in aeronautics, science, and space.
> With the Artemis program <https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/>, NASA is working toward landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024, and establishing sustainable exploration by the end of the decade. While exploring the Moon with more robots and humans than ever before, we will test the technologies and capabilities we need to send the first astronauts to Mars. NASA aims to inspire, educate and engage the next generation of explorers on that journey.
> Visit the SciFest STEM Stage to find out why NASA is going to the Moon and hear from NASA chief scientist Jim Green on what lies hidden in the Moon’s craters. Learn about human health and space medicine from NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, and discover how to grow veggies in space. Look closer at Earth with the Landsat 9 satellite, and peer inside NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to see the furthest reaches of the universe. Find out why electric is the shape of things to come in aeronautics. Learn about the history of NASA and the civil rights movement, and discover the faces of technology today.
> College students can visit the NASA booth inside the SciFest College Career Center to learn more about internship opportunities. NASA STEM content and activities will be available in a virtual student backpack and teacher resource area during the event. NASA invites the Artemis Generation to see themselves among the science stars!
> For more information and to register for the event, visit: https://www.usasciencefestival.org/scifest <https://www.usasciencefestival.org/scifest> For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: https://www.nasa.gov <https://www.nasa.gov/>
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September 24, 2020 
MEDIA ADVISORY M20-106
NASA Invites Media, Public to Watch Cargo Launch to Space Station
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/46717598875_8f156b8ed9_k.jpg>
46717598875_8f156b8ed9_k.jpg
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus resupply spacecraft onboard, is seen in this black and white infrared photograph as it launches from Pad-0A, Wednesday, April 17, 2019 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASA commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman is targeting 10:27 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 29, for the launch of its 14th resupply mission to the International Space Station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>. Live coverage of the launch from Wallops Flight Facility <https://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/home> on Wallops Island, Virginia, will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website <https://www.nasa.gov/live>, with prelaunch events Monday, Sept. 28, and Tuesday, Sept. 29. Loaded with nearly 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch on the company’s Antares rocket from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The Cygnus spacecraft, dubbed the SS Kalpana Chawla <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/chawla_kalpana.pdf>, will arrive at the space station Saturday, Oct. 3. Expedition 63 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/exp-63-summary.pdf> Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA will grapple Cygnus and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos will act as a backup. After Cygnus capture, mission control in Houston will send ground commands for the station’s robotic arm to rotate and install it on the bottom of the station’s Unity module. Cygnus is scheduled to remain at the space station until mid-December, when it will depart the station. Following departure, the Saffire-V <https://www.nasa.gov/saffire> experiment will be conducted prior to Cygnus deorbit and disposing of several tons of trash during a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere approximately two weeks later. Members of the public can attend the launch virtually, receiving mission updates, and opportunities normally received by on-site guests.

Complete coverage of launch activities is as follows (all times Eastern):
Monday, Sept. 28
1:00 p.m. – Pre-launch News Conference with the following participants:
Greg Dorth, manager, International Space Station Program External Integration Office, NASA
Heidi Parris, assistant program scientist, International Space Station Program Science Office, NASA 
Shannon Fitzpatrick, chief, Wallops Flight Facility Range and Mission Management Office, NASA
Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, Tactical Space, Northrop Grumman
Kurt Eberly, director, Launch Vehicles, Northrop Grumman
Tuesday, Sept. 29
10 p.m. – Launch coverage begins
Saturday, Oct. 3

3:45 a.m. – Rendezvous coverage begins
5:15 a.m. – Capture of Cygnus with the space station’s robotic arm
7:00 a.m. – Cygnus installation operations coverage
Media can submit questions during the prelaunch press conference by emailing jamie.l.adkins at nasa.gov <mailto:jamie.l.adkins at nasa.gov>.

NASA’s virtual launch experience for the mission includes: curated launch resources, a behind-the-scenes look at the mission, notifications about NASA social interactions, and the opportunity for a virtual launch passport stamp following a successful launch.
Members of the public can share in the mission through a variety of activities, including:

Virtual Launch Event
Register <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nasas-northrop-grumman-14th-commercial-resupply-services-mission-launch-registration-117312194933> for email updates or RSVP to the Facebook event <https://www.facebook.com/events/966762037161461> for social media updates to stay up-to-date on mission information, mission highlights, and interaction opportunities.
Ask Them Anything
On Thursday, Sept. 24, experts will discuss highlights of science investigations, technology demonstrations, and commercial products launching on Cygnus. Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online <http://www.nasa.gov/live>, and questions can be submitted on social media using #AskNASA.
On Friday, Sept. 25, experts will answer public questions on Reddit Ask Me Anything forums about select science on the mission – the Universal Waste Management System <https://www.reddit.com/r/space/>, Plant Habitat-02 <https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/>, and the International Space Station Experience EVA Camera <https://www.reddit.com/r/Filmmakers/>. Additional information will be shared with Eventbrite registrants and Facebook RSVPs.
Virtual Launch Passport
Print, fold, and get ready to fill your  <>virtual launch passport <https://nvite.jsc.nasa.gov/download.asp?fname=501_SP-2020-08-772-KSC%20Virtual%20Passport%20and%20Stamp%20for%20launches%20-%20Passport.pdf>. Stamps will be emailed following launches to all virtual attendees registered by email through Eventbrite.
View from the Mid-Atlantic Region
The launch may be visible <https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2020/press-release/watch-the-september-29-antares-launch-from-wallops/>, weather permitting, to residents throughout the mid-Atlantic region and possibly the East Coast of the United States.
Watch and Engage on Social Media
Live coverage and countdown commentary also will stream on YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/nasa>, Twitter <https://twitter.com/nasa>, Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/NASA/>, LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/nasa>, Twitch <https://www.twitch.tv/nasa>, Daily Motion <https://www.dailymotion.com/NASA>, and Theta.TV <https://www.sliver.tv/win/nasa>.
Stay connected with the mission on social media, and let people know you're following it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtags #Cygnus, #Antares, #NASAWallops. Follow and tag these accounts:
Twitter: @NASA <https://go.nasa.gov/YCUiAm>, @NASA_Wallops <https://twitter.com/NASA_Wallops>, @Space_Station <http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station>
Facebook: NASA <https://go.nasa.gov/381mnhi>, NASAWFF <https://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF/>, ISS Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/ISS/>
Instagram: @NASAWallops <http://www.instagram.com/nasawallops/>, ISS Instagram <https://instagram.com/iss/>
Learn more about the Northrop Grumman CRS-14 mission by going to the mission home page at: https://www.nasa.gov/northropgrumman <https://www.nasa.gov/northropgrumman>

Meet Calypso, a daredevil mission concept to explore the surface of Venus
By Paul Sutter <https://www.space.com/author/paul-sutter> 4 days ago
Just because it's hard doesn't mean we shouldn't do it.

A computer-simulated view of the northern hemisphere of Venus.
(Image: © NASA/JPL)
Of all the rocky, inner worlds of the solar system, Venus <https://www.space.com/44-venus-second-planet-from-the-sun-brightest-planet-in-solar-system.html> is the most challenging to explore. 

With surface temperatures reaching a bewildering 867 degrees Fahrenheit (464 degrees Celsius), even the most hardened landers <https://www.space.com/18551-venera-13.html> can't survive for long. But a new idea, called the Calypso Venus Scout, calls for a bold new mission design: a science probe dangling 20 miles (32 kilometers) below a cloud-borne balloon. 

Welcome to hell

Because Venus is only slightly smaller than our own planet, it's taken up the nickname of the "Earth's twin." But if Venus really is a twin of the Earth, it's the evil kind. Despite their similar sizes, the two worlds couldn't be more different <https://www.space.com/venus-earth-twin-evolution-life-search.html>. While Earth maintains a balmy climate, with a decent atmosphere keeping the lid on vast expanses of liquid water oceans, Venus is a nightmare world. 

Related: Venus, once billed as Earth's twin, is a hothouse (and a tantalizing target in the search for life) <https://www.space.com/venus-earth-twin-evolution-life-search.html>
Its atmosphere <https://www.space.com/18527-venus-atmosphere.html> is almost completely carbon dioxide and reaches pressures 92 times that found at Earth's sea level. The noxious atmosphere is so thick that the planet's surface temperatures are the hottest in the inner solar system — warmer even than Mercury <https://www.space.com/36-mercury-the-suns-closest-planetary-neighbor.html>, despite sitting 50% farther away from our sun.

Of all the missions of Venus, only the Soviets attempted any landings, with the Venera program. Brutalized by the extreme conditions, most of those landers failed, but a few managed to survive long enough to send back a few quick exposures before succumbing.

No lander has reached the Venusian surface since Venera 14 in 1982. To date, our only records of the surface come from those few Soviet probes and the occasional orbiter. Even though Venus may be our twin, we know far too little about it.

'Pi planet' alien world takes 3.14 days to orbit its star

This Earth-size planet (shown in this artistic illustration) zips around its star every 3.14 days. (Image credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle, Christine Daniloff, MIT)
 <applewebdata://6F313797-DCBC-4EFE-95A4-CD23ED3556D8>"The planet moves like clockwork," study lead author Prajwal Niraula, a graduate student in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, said in a statement <https://news.mit.edu/2020/earth-sized-pi-planet-0921>.

"Everyone needs a bit of fun these days," co-author Julien de Wit, an assistant professor in the same department at MIT, added in the statement, which was released by the university.

That fun extends to the title of the new paper <https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aba95f>, which was published online Monday(Sept. 21) in the The Astronomical Journal: "Pi Earth: a 3.14-day Earth-sized Planet from K2's Kitchen Served Warm by the SPECULOOS Team." 

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Begins its Countdown to TAG

Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
 see video:  https://youtu.be/vZxGPyh-4_g <https://youtu.be/vZxGPyh-4_g> 
A historic moment is on the horizon for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. In just a few weeks, the robotic OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will descend to asteroid Bennu’s boulder-strewn surface, touch down for a few seconds and collect a sample of the asteroid’s rocks and dust – marking the first time NASA has grabbed pieces of an asteroid, which will be returned to Earth for study.

On Oct. 20, the mission will perform the first attempt of its Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. This series of maneuvers will bring the spacecraft down to site Nightingale, a rocky area 52 ft (16 m) in diameter in Bennu’s northern hemisphere, where the spacecraft’s robotic sampling arm will attempt to collect a sample. Site Nightingale was selected as the mission’s primary sample site because it holds the greatest amount of unobstructed fine-grained material, but the region is surrounded by building-sized boulders. During the sampling event, the spacecraft, which is the size of a large van, will attempt to touch down in an area that is only the size of a few parking spaces, and just a few steps away from some of these large boulders.
On Oct. 20, the OSIRIS-REx mission will perform the first attempt of its Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. Not only will the spacecraft navigate to the surface using innovative navigation techniques, but it could also collect the largest sample since the Apollo missions.
During the 4.5-hour sample collection event, the spacecraft will perform three separate maneuvers to reach the asteroid’s surface. The descent sequence begins with OSIRIS-REx firing its thrusters for an orbit departure maneuver to leave its safe-home orbit approximately 2,500 feet (770 meters) from Bennu's surface. After traveling four hours on this downward trajectory, the spacecraft performs the “Checkpoint” maneuver at an approximate altitude of 410 ft (125 m). This thruster burn adjusts OSIRIS-REx’s position and speed to descend steeply toward the surface. About 11 minutes later, the spacecraft performs the “Matchpoint” burn at an approximate altitude of 177 ft (54 m), slowing its descent and targeting a path to match the asteroid's rotation at the time of contact. The spacecraft then descends to the surface, touches down for less than sixteen seconds and fires one of its three pressurized nitrogen bottles. The gas agitates and lifts Bennu’s surface material, which is then caught in the spacecraft’s collector head. After this brief touch, OSIRIS-REx fires its thrusters to back away from Bennu’s surface and navigates to a safe distance from the asteroid.
After the orbit departure maneuver, the spacecraft undertakes a sequence of reconfigurations to prepare for sampling. First, OSIRIS-REx extends its robotic sampling arm – the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) – from its folded storage position out to the sample collection position. The spacecraft’s two solar panels then move into a “Y-wing” configuration over the spacecraft’s body, which positions them safely up and away from the asteroid’s surface during touch down. This configuration also places the spacecraft’s center of gravity directly over the TAGSAM collector head, which is the only part of the spacecraft that will contact Bennu’s surface during the sample collection event.
Because the spacecraft and Bennu are approximately 207 million miles (334 million km) from Earth during TAG, it will take about 18.5 minutes for signals to travel between them. This time lag prevents the live commanding of flight activities from the ground during the TAG event, so the spacecraft is designed to perform the entire sample collection sequence autonomously. Prior to the event’s start, the OSIRIS-REx team will uplink all of the commands to the spacecraft and then send a “GO” command to begin.
To autonomously navigate to site Nightingale, OSIRIS-REx uses the Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) navigation system. The spacecraft begins collecting navigation images about 90 minutes after orbit departure. It then compares these real-time images to an onboard image catalog, using identified surface features to make sure that it’s on the right course toward the site. As the spacecraft approaches the surface, OSIRIS-REx updates the Checkpoint and Matchpoint maneuvers based on the NFT's estimate of the spacecraft’s position and velocity. OSIRIS-REx continues to use the NFT estimates as it descends to the surface after the Matchpoint maneuver to monitor its position and descent rate. The spacecraft will autonomously abort should its trajectory vary outside of predefined limits. 
To ensure that the spacecraft touches down on a safe area that avoids the region’s many boulders, the navigation system is equipped with a hazard map of site Nightingale, which delineates areas within the sample site that could potentially harm the spacecraft. If the spacecraft’s NFT system detects that it is on course to touch one of these hazardous zones, the spacecraft will autonomously wave off its approach once it reaches an altitude of 16 ft (5 m). This keeps the spacecraft safe and allows for a subsequent sample collection attempt at a future date.
As the spacecraft performs each event in the sample collection sequence, it will send telemetry updates back to the OSIRIS-REx team, albeit at an extremely slow data rate. The team will monitor the telemetry during the excursion and will be able to confirm that the spacecraft has successfully touched down on Bennu’s surface soon after TAG occurs. The images and other science data collected during the event will be downlinked after the spacecraft has backed away from the asteroid and can point its larger antenna back to Earth to transmit at higher communication rates.
OSIRIS-REx is charged with collecting at least 2 oz. (60 grams) of Bennu’s rocky material to deliver back to Earth – the largest sample return from space since the Apollo program – and the mission developed two methods to verify that this sample collection occurred. On Oct. 22, OSIRIS-REx’s SamCam camera will capture images of the TAGSAM head to see whether it contains Bennu’s surface material. The spacecraft will also perform a spin maneuver on Oct. 24 to determine the mass of collected material. If these measures show successful collection, the decision will be made to place the sample in the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) for return to Earth. If sufficient sample has not been collected from Nightingale, the spacecraft has onboard nitrogen charges for two more attempts. A TAG attempt at the back-up Osprey site would be made no earlier than January 2021.
The mission team has spent the last several months preparing for the sample collection event while maximizing remote work as part of its COVID-19 response. On the day of TAG, a limited number of team members will monitor the spacecraft from Lockheed Martin Space’s Mission Support Area, taking appropriate safety precautions. Other members of the team will also be at other locations on-site to cover the event, while also observing safety protocols.
The spacecraft is scheduled to depart Bennu in 2021 and it will deliver the collected sample to Earth on Sep. 24, 2023.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
To view graphics from the Sept. 24 media telecon, go to: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13724 <https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13724> 
To visit the OSIRIS-REx media gallery, go to: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/OSIRIS-REx.html <https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/OSIRIS-REx.html> 
For more information on the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex <https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex> and https://www.asteroidmission.org <https://www.asteroidmission.org/> 

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