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

[Gabe]

Hi all,

 I’m on the plane heading back to the USA from Sao Paulo, Brazil…almost 4 weeks since I left…it has been such an amazing time…certainly one of the most filled and diverse trips ever…starting in Rio, spending 2 days with special friends, going to Santa Maria Madalena, a beautiful city in the mountains, being honored with a slab with my handprints being placed on a walkway recognizing those who have made a significant contribution to the city…very humbling…they are going to make me an honorary citizen… :-) from there to Sao Francisco de Paula, ,  Campos dos Goytacazes, Criciúma, Içara, Macapa, & Sao Paulo. Most of the time I am on my own but I had the privilege of sharing events with others in astronomy, arts, dark sky…I learn so much…

 It is a week since I started this….got home, unpacked, next day spent the whole day cleaning the yard, 2 after that completing car repairs, exercised each day….amazing…my life is a blur of activities….it is all fun, all exciting, all challenging, staying positive….and always being thankful…being with the kids is so magical…it is a make believe world, so different than normalcy…I am always treated so kind, so many open their homes and hearts to me…I am a part of something so very special but without the support of so many who give of their time…it takes a lot of planning and coordination for me to be in a city traveling every day and evening….I am always so thankful to everyone…

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

spotthestation
https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
Spot The Station
spotthestation.nasa.gov

Tonight is a commercial launch to the ISS
EVENT DETAILS


SpaceX Falcon 9
Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2)
 MAY 21, 2023 05:37 PM 
LAUNCH COMPLEX 39A • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
MISSION
Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) is Axiom Space’s second all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and is targeting no earlier than (NET) May 21, 2023 5:37 PM ET for launch. Since this mission is to the International Space Station, this will be an instantaneous window. 

The crew for this privately-funded mission include Peggy Whitson, a retired NASA astronaut, John Shoffner of Tennessee, and Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The crew will launch aboard a Dragon spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission will last 12 days, including 10 spent aboard the ISS conducting science investigations.

The Falcon 9 booster for this mission will return to earth and land on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.



NASA Selects Blue Origin as Second Artemis Lunar Lander Provider
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/bluemoon_nasa_option_2023-05-19_01.29.31_0.jpg>
Artist’s concept of the Blue Moon lander.
Credits: Blue Origin
To develop a human landing system for the agency’s Artemis V mission to the Moon, NASA has selected Blue Origin of Kent, Washington. Through Artemis <https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/>, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, uncovering more scientific discoveries, and preparing for future astronaut missions to Mars.

Blue Origin will design, develop, test, and verify its Blue Moon lander to meet NASA’s human landing system requirements for recurring astronaut expeditions to the lunar surface, including docking with Gateway, a space station where crew transfer in lunar orbit. In addition to design and development work, the contract includes one uncrewed demonstration mission to the lunar surface before a crewed demo on the Artemis V mission in 2029. The total award value of the firm-fixed price contract is $3.4 billion.

“Today we are excited to announce Blue Origin will build a human landing system as NASA’s second provider to deliver Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “We are in a golden age of human spaceflight, which is made possible by NASA’s commercial and international partnerships. Together, we are making an investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first astronauts on Mars.”

For the Artemis V mission, NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch four astronauts to lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft. Once Orion docks with Gateway <https://www.nasa.gov/gateway>, two astronauts will transfer to Blue Origin’s human landing system for about a weeklong trip to the Moon’s South Pole region where they will conduct science and exploration activities. Artemis V is at the intersection of demonstrating NASA’s initial lunar exploration capabilities and establishing the foundational systems to support recurring complex missions in lunar orbit and on the surface as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

Adding another human landing system partner to NASA’s Artemis program will increase competition, reduce costs to taxpayers, support a regular cadence of lunar landings, further invest in the lunar economy, and help NASA achieve its goals on and around the Moon in preparation for future astronaut missions to Mars. 

The agency previously contracted <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon> SpaceX to demonstrate an initial human landing system for the Artemis III mission. Under that contract, the agency also directed  <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-spacex-second-contract-option-for-artemis-moon-landing-0>SpaceX to evolve its design to meet the agency’s requirements for sustainable exploration and to demonstrate the lander on Artemis IV. As a result of the contract with Blue Origin to demonstrate on Artemis V a lander that meets these same sustainable lander requirements, including capabilities for increased crew size, longer mission duration, and delivery of more mass to the Moon, multiple providers will be available to compete for future opportunities to fulfill NASA’s lunar surface access needs for Artemis missions.

By supporting industry’s development of innovative human landing system concepts and designs, NASA will help increase access to space for the benefit of all. 

“Having two distinct lunar lander designs, with different approaches to how they meet NASA's mission needs, provides more robustness and ensures a regular cadence of Moon landings,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager, Human Landing System Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “This competitive approach drives innovation, brings down costs, and invests in commercial capabilities to grow the business opportunities that can serve other customers and foster a lunar economy.”

NASA issued the solicitation, known as Appendix P <https://www.nasa.gov/nextstep/humanlander4>, of its second Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Broad Agency Announcement (Next-STEP2 BAA <https://www.nasa.gov/content/nextstep-2-omnibus-baa>), in September 2022 as part of the ongoing development of advanced space exploration technologies, capabilities, and concepts.

Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts – including the first woman and first person of color – to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for crewed missions to Mars <https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars>. Together, the SLS rocket, Orion, Gateway, advanced spacesuits, and human landing systems are NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.

For more information about the human landing system, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/45fK6qY

-end-





NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures View of Mars’ Belva Crater
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/1-pia25889-belva-1041.jpg>
The 152 images that make up this mosaic of Belva Crater were taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on April 22, 2023, the 772nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Belva is a 0.6-mile-wide (0.9-kilometer wide) impact crater within the much larger Jezero Crater.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
The six-wheeled scientist encountered the crater during its latest science campaign in search of rock samples that could be brought to Earth for deeper investigation.

Where Is Perseverance Right Now?  <https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/where-is-the-rover/>
The Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently collected 152 images while looking deep into Belva Crater, a large impact crater within the far larger Jezero Crater. Stitched into a dramatic mosaic, the results are not only eye-catching, but also provide the rover’s science team some deep insights into the interior of Jezero.

“Mars rover missions usually end up exploring bedrock in small, flat exposures in the immediate workspace of the rover,” said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist of Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “That’s why our science team was so keen to image and study Belva. Impact craters can offer grand views and vertical cuts that provide important clues to the origin of these rocks with a perspective and at a scale that we don’t usually experience.”

On Earth, geology professors often take their students to visit highway “roadcuts” –places where construction crews have sliced vertically into the rock to make way for roads – that allow them to view rock layers and other geological features not visible at the surface. On Mars, impact craters like Belva can provide a type of natural roadcut.

 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/e1-pia25889-1041.jpg>
This anaglyph of Perseverance’s mosaic of Belva Crater can best be viewed with red-blue 3D glasses.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
Signs of Past Water

Perseverance took the images of the basin on April 22 (the 772nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission) while parked just west of Belva Crater’s rim on a light-toned rocky outcrop the mission’s science team calls “Echo Creek.” Created by a meteorite impact eons ago, the approximately 0.6-mile-wide (0.9-kilometer-wide) crater reveals multiple locations of exposed bedrock as well as a region where sedimentary layers angle steeply downward.

These “dipping beds” could indicate the presence of a large Martian sandbar, made of sediment, that billions of years ago was deposited by a river channel flowing into the lake that Jezero Crater once held.

The science team suspects the large boulders in the foreground are either chunks of bedrock exposed by the meteorite impact or that they may have been transported into the crater by the river system. The scientists will search for answers by continuing to compare features found in bedrock near the rover to the larger-scale rock layers visible in the distant crater walls.

To help with those efforts, the mission also created an anaglyph, or 3D version, of the mosaic. “An anaglyph can help us visualize the geologic relationships between the crater wall outcrops,” said Stack. “But it also provides an opportunity to simply enjoy an awesome view. When I look at this mosaic through red-blue 3D glasses, I’m transported to the western rim of Belva, and I wonder what future astronauts would be thinking if they were to stand where Perseverance once stood when it took this shot.”

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology <https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/>, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA, would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis <https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/> missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.																						



First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). The telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data were released during a televised broadcast at 10:30 a.m. EDT (14:30 UTC) on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. These listed targets below represent the first wave of full-color scientific images and spectra the observatory has gathered, and the official beginning of Webb’s general science operations. They were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

These first images from the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope demonstrate Webb at its full power, ready to begin its mission to unfold the infrared universe <https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/first-science-images-packet>.

Press release: NASA Reveals Webb Telescope’s First Images of Unseen Universe <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-reveals-webb-telescope-s-first-images-of-unseen-universe/>
For more about Webb’s current status, visit the “Where Is Webb?” tracker. <https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html>
Carina Nebula
 <https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/#tab1-1>Stephan's Quintet
 <https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/#tab1-2>Southern Ring Nebula
 <https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/#tab1-3>WASP-96 b
 <https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/#tab1-4>SMACS 0723
 <https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/#tab1-5>
 <https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-cosmic-cliffs-glittering-landscape-of-star-birth>
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
View larger version of this image <https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-cosmic-cliffs-glittering-landscape-of-star-birth>
This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth.

Called the Cosmic Cliffs, Webb’s seemingly three-dimensional picture looks like craggy mountains on a moonlit evening. In reality, it is the edge of the giant, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, and the tallest “peaks” in this image are about 7 light-years high. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image.

Learn more about this image <https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-cosmic-cliffs-glittering-landscape-of-star-birth>
Download the full-resolution, uncompressed version and supporting visuals from the Space Telescope Science Institute <https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-031>
View a Hubble Space Telescope image of Carina Nebula NGC 3324 (Hubblesite.org) <http://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2008/34/2405-Image.html> 
En español <https://ciencia.nasa.gov/webb-de-la-nasa-revela-precipicios-cosmicos-y-paisajes-resplandecientes-de-nacimiento-estelar>




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