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

[Gabe]

Hi all,

 I’m on my way to Norway, I believe this is my 25th visit, the first was almost 10 years ago…I would have never imagined and still can’t comprehend where that first visit would lead me…it was so amazing, I did not know what to expect…I had never been to Norway…I remember all the kids wanting to give hugs, take pictures, get close…it was so very special…totally unexpected….so genuine…I didn’t understand but I felt it...it is the same today and has been every single event since…I’ve been to 16 countries…what I learned most is kids around the world are exactly the same. EXACTLY! If I hadn’t experienced it, I would not believe it….it doesn’t matter the country, the culture, the dress, the language…they all have the same look in their eyes, the same smiles…they all interface with each other the same way…

 The space program continues to move forward, Artemis is on its way back to Earth...I haven’t had time to follow the way I would like but manage  to get some updates…the last 4 months have been very interesting…before the pandemic I was constantly traveling, I would often be home less than a week, I think one time 2 days, and leave again…it was so rewarding and so much fun…I did that for 6 years…then the pandemic…I found myself at home 24/7 with no job…it was awesome…6 years of waiting projects….house repairs, car repairs, general maintenance of everything…going to the gym and swimming on a regular basis….I totally enjoyed it…did not think about or miss the travel…I was enjoying this new chapter in my life…I never dwell on the past or future, always make the most of the day I am in, always thankful, no matter what happens…then last year, I had my first opportunity to travel…it was to Norway…how fitting…I wondered would it be the same? The magic of it was so very, very special…it was the same, exactly…the last 4 months was to a different country each month…gone for 20 days home for 10…this time was bit more challenging because I had to clean up after a hurricane and also get everything ready for Christmas…I won’t have time when I get home…everything has been wonderful but I want a better balance of travel and home…I will stay home the month of January, in February I will go to Brazil, in March, Australia…then I will try to limit travel every other month…

hi all…it seems more and more challenging to get these sent as the schedules are filled and "spare time” never happens….yesterday, I had plans together everything done but took a little break to go to the gym…on my way there I was invited to go to a Christmas dinner and do a presentation…I always say yes….my one hour trip to the gym ended up with me not getting back until around 9pm last night…at the airport now, on my way to another city…hopefully, today, I will get this sent :-)

Hi again…in the airport in Oslo on my way to Amsterdam, Atlanta, thenMelbourne…it has been an amazing adventure…been crazy busy every minute of every day…a lot of snow, which is so pretty, especially ay Christmas but travel had been a huge challenge…many flights delayed or cancelled, limes everywhere, so much lost baggage…on of my bags was lost from Amsterdam to Oslo, my bags are lost from my flight last night to Oslo…I waiting in line for 3 hours to check on theban, when I got to the counter, they said, it is midnight, we are closing, go on line…on line, I could not find the numbers requested…so I am on my way back to the US with no bags and not a clue where they might be…always an adventure :-) I will try, once again, to get this sent before I arrive in the US…

Another plan that did not go as expected but always having fun…:-) I got home this morning, around 1am…still no luggage update..

We have to stay positive and always be thankful… remembering 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 and smiles. STAY SAFE, TAKE CARE, Love ya, Gabe
 

This is amazing…take a few minutes to share these with the kids, turn the sound way up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNSmLNWyojA 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-perseverance-rover-to-begin-building-martian-sample-depot



Some sights you can share with the kids, if the want to have fun with space over the Christmas Holiday…
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov <https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/>
www.spotthestation.nasa.gov
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
https://www.nasa.gov/careers
https://spaceflightnow.com/
Orion capsule bounces off atmosphere to complete hottest and fastest reentry ever, capping off NASA's Artemis 1 mission
 <http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/pNhJCKojllDuvankCifPauBWcNYAfD?format=multipart>
 <http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/pNhJCKojllDuvankCifPauBWcNYAfD>
(NASA)
NASA's Orion capsule has survived the hottest and fastest reentry ever performed by a spacecraft by intentionally skipping off the atmosphere before splashing down off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. 

The uncrewed capsule, which launched Nov. 16 atop the 30-story Space Launch System "mega moon rocket" as part of NASA's $20 billion Artemis 1 mission, made its triumphant return from its 26-day, record-breaking, 1.4 million-mile (2.2 million kilometers) round trip to the moon at 12:40 p.m. EST on Dec. 11. Full Story
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/orion_day_13_advisory.jpg>
NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft reached a maximum distance of nearly 270,000 miles from Earth during the Artemis I flight test before beginning its journey back toward Earth. Orion captured imagery of the Earth and Moon together from its distant lunar orbit, including this image on Nov. 28, 2022, taken from camera on one of the spacecraft’s solar array wings.
Credits: NASA



Astronomers Spot The Biggest Galaxy Ever, And The Scale Will Break Your Brain


 <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_SxoWinYJOd9H7-BjFRZWoRE7TkxWucAsb24YD5ZXFnSLQgSuirRnjq4M4exBuyXHKj0y1NF6clh7FjuCnkH1eMnlJfghsziv0Qrfoxbf4Ev36LeMJ_JTx46LwWExfIGwmWzeyRhrugOLMrulP5Rnc-Ke9ZoDApBLCQCJpy6m7yh0iN8NRlziwD9n_w/s643/Capture.PNG>

Earlier this year, astronomers found an absolute monster of a galaxy.

 Lurking some 3 billion light-years away, Alcyoneus is a giant radio galaxy reaching 5 megaparsecs into space. That's 16.3 million light-years long, and it constitutes the largest known structure of galactic origin.



NASA Launches International Mission to Survey Earth’s Water
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/swot_launch_photo.jpg>
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft onboard, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022, from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Jointly developed by NASA and Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency, SWOT is the first satellite mission that will observe nearly all water on Earth’s surface, measuring the height of water in the planet’s lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the ocean.
Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber
A satellite built for NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) to observe nearly all the water on our planet’s surface lifted off on its way to low-Earth orbit at 3:46 a.m. PST on Friday. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft also has contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency.

The SWOT spacecraft launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with a prime mission of three years. The satellite will measure the height of water in freshwater bodies and the ocean on more than 90% of Earth’s surface. This information will provide insights into how the ocean influences climate change; how a warming world affects lakes, rivers, and reservoirs; and how communities can better prepare for disasters, such as floods.

After SWOT separated from the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, ground controllers successfully acquired the satellite’s signal. Initial telemetry reports showed the spacecraft in good health. SWOT will now undergo a series of checks and calibrations before it starts collecting science data in about six months.

“Warming seas, extreme weather, more severe wildfires – these are only some of the consequences humanity is facing due to climate change,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The climate crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and SWOT is the realization of a long-standing international partnership that will ultimately better equip communities so that they can face these challenges.”

SWOT will cover the entire Earth’s surface between 78 degrees south and 78 degrees north latitude at least once every 21 days, sending back about one terabyte of unprocessed data per day. The scientific heart of the spacecraft is an innovative instrument called the Ka-band radar interferometer (KaRIn), which marks a major technological advance. KaRIn bounces radar pulses off the water’s surface and receives the return signal using two antennas on either side of the spacecraft. This arrangement – one signal, two antennas – will enable engineers to precisely determine the height of the water’s surface across two swaths at a time, each of them 30 miles (50 kilometers) wide.

“We’re eager to see SWOT in action,” said Karen St. Germain, NASA Earth Science Division director. “This satellite embodies how we are improving life on Earth through science and technological innovations. The data that innovation will provide is essential to better understanding how Earth’s air, water, and ecosystems interact – and how people can thrive on our changing planet.”

Among the many benefits the SWOT mission will provide is a significantly clearer picture of Earth’s freshwater bodies. It will provide data on more than 95% of the world’s lakes larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters) and rivers wider than 330 feet (100 meters) across. Currently, freshwater researchers have reliable measurements for only a few thousand lakes around the world. SWOT will push that number into the millions.

Along the coast, SWOT will provide information on sea level, filling in observational gaps in areas that don’t have tide gauges or other instruments that measure sea surface height. Over time, that data can help researchers better track sea level rise, which will directly impact communities and coastal ecosystems.

Such an ambitious mission is possible because of NASA’s long-standing commitment to working with agencies around the world to study Earth and its climate. NASA and CNES have built upon a decades-long relationship that started in the 1980s to monitor Earth’s oceans. This collaboration pioneered the use of a space-based instrument called an altimeter to study sea level with the launch of the TOPEX/Poseidon <https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/topex-poseidon/summary/>satellite in 1992.

“This mission marks the continuity of 30 years of collaboration between NASA and CNES in altimetry,” said Caroline Laurent, CNES Orbital Systems and Applications director. “It shows how international collaboration can be achieved through a breakthrough mission that will help us better understand climate change and its effects around the world.”

SWOT measurements will also help researchers, policymakers, and resource managers better assess and plan for things, including floods and droughts. By providing information on where the water is – where it’s coming from and where it’s going – researchers can improve flood projections for rivers and monitor drought effects on lakes and reservoirs.

“SWOT will provide vital information, given the urgent challenges posed by climate change and sea level rise,” said Laurie Leshin, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) director. JPL developed the KaRIn instrument and manages the U.S. portion of the mission. “That SWOT will fill gaps in our knowledge and inform future action is the direct result of commitment, innovation, and collaboration going back many years. We’re excited to get SWOT science underway.”

More Mission Information

To learn more about SWOT, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/swot



NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Building Martian Sample Depot
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/1-pia25675-mastcam-z-views-perseverances-depot-in-the-distance.jpg>
The location where NASA’s Perseverance will begin depositing its first cache of samples is shown in this image taken by the Mars rover on Dec. 14, 2022, the 646th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
The 10 sample tubes being dropped on Mars’ surface so they can be studied on Earth in the future carry an amazing diversity of Red Planet geology.

Where Is Perseverance Right Now? <https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/where-is-the-rover/>
Listen to JPL’s ‘On a Mission’ podcast season about Mars rovers <https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/podcasts/on-a-mission-season-1/season-4-mars-rovers>
In the coming days, NASA’s Perseverance rover is expected to begin building the first sample depot on another world. This will mark a crucial milestone in the NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Sample Return <https://mars.nasa.gov/msr/> campaign, which aims to bring Mars samples to Earth for closer study.

The depot-building process starts when the rover drops one of its titanium sample tubes carrying a chalk-size core of rock from its belly 2.9 feet (88.8 centimeters) onto the ground at an area within Jezero Crater nicknamed “Three Forks.” Over the course of 30 or so days, Perseverance <https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/> will deposit a total of 10 tubes that carry samples representing the diversity of the rock record in Jezero Crater.


 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/2-pia25673-map-of-perseverances-delta-top-campaign.jpg>
This map shows the planned route NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will take across the top of Jezero Crater’s delta in 2023. The rover’s planned route is in black while the ground it already covered is in white.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech



NASA’s Webb Unveils Young Stars in Early Stages of Formation
Scientists taking a “deep dive” into one of Webb’s iconic first images have discovered dozens of energetic jets and outflows from young stars previously hidden by dust clouds. The discovery marks the beginning of a new era of investigating how stars like our Sun form, and how the radiation from nearby massive stars might affect the development of planets.

The Cosmic Cliffs <https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-031>, a region at the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within the star cluster NGC 3324, has long intrigued astronomers as a hotbed for star formation <https://webbtelescope.org/contents/articles/how-are-stars-born>. While well-studied by the Hubble Space Telescope, many details of star formation in NGC 3324 remain hidden at visible-light wavelengths. Webb is perfectly primed to tease out these long-sought-after details since it is built to detect jets and outflows seen only in the infrared at high resolution. Webb’s capabilities also allow researchers to track the movement of other features previously captured by Hubble.

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/stsci-01gkmk9dyd955y1rgw4jq8a4c6.png>
Dozens of previously hidden jets and outflows from young stars are revealed in this new image of the Cosmic Cliffs from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). This image separates out several wavelengths of light from the First Image revealed on July 12, 2022, which highlight molecular hydrogen, a vital ingredient for star formation. Insets on the right-hand side highlight three regions of the Cosmic Cliffs with particularly active molecular hydrogen outflows. In this image, red, green, and blue were assigned to Webb’s NIRCam data at 4.7, 4.44, and 1.87 microns (F470N, F444W, and F187N filters, respectively).
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. Image processing: J. DePasquale (STScI).
Download the full-resolution, uncompressed version and supporting visuals from the Space Telescope Science Institute. <https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-057>

Hubble Views a Star-Studded Cosmic Cloud 
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/hubble_ngc6530_potw2250a.jpg>
A portion of the open cluster NGC 6530 appears as a roiling wall of smoke studded with stars in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html>. NGC 6530 is a collection of several thousand stars lying around 4,350 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The cluster is set within the larger Lagoon Nebula <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-8-the-lagoon-nebula>, a gigantic interstellar cloud of gas and dust. Hubble has previously imaged the Lagoon Nebula several times, including these images released in 2010 <https://esahubble.org/news/heic1015/> and 2011 <https://esahubble.org/images/potw1120a/>. It is the nebula that gives this image its distinctly smoky appearance; clouds of interstellar gas and dust stretch from one side of the image to the other.

Astronomers investigated NGC 6530 using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys <https://www.nasa.gov/content/hubble-space-telescope-advanced-camera-for-surveys> and Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 <https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/wide-field-and-planetary-camera-2-wfpc2>. They scoured the region in the hope of finding new examples of proplyds, a particular class of illuminated protoplanetary discs surrounding newborn stars. The vast majority of known proplyds <https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2009/12/Hubble_s_sharpest_image_of_the_Orion_Nebula_with_proplyd_highlights> are found in only one region, the nearby Orion Nebula. This makes understanding their origin and lifetimes in other astronomical environments challenging.

Hubble’s ability to observe at near-infrared wavelengths – particularly with Wide Field Camera 3 <https://www.nasa.gov/content/hubble-space-telescope-wide-field-camera-3> – have made it an indispensable tool for understanding star birth and the origin of exoplanetary systems. The new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope <https://webb.nasa.gov/>’s unprecedented observational capabilities at infrared wavelengths will complement Hubble observations by allowing astronomers to peer through the dusty envelopes around newly born stars and investigate the faintest, earliest stages of star birth.

Text credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. De Marco; Acknowledgment: M.H. Özsaraç 



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