“The public perception of NASA has a lot to do with our technological successes and the discoveries that we’ve made, but none of that is possible without the people.
“In the six or so years that I’ve worked at NASA, I’ve learned a lot of incredible stories — not just of the struggles that different spacecraft encounter on their journeys throughout the universe. There are so many problems that need to be solved and fixes that need to be made, but there are also so many stories of teams that had to work together to accomplish their goals. And a lot of time, these teams are working after hours, on weekends, working late nights and early mornings. These are people who have other problems in their lives that they have to solve, and they’re still showing up and making magic happen.
“This is why [Aubrey Gemignani] and I started Faces of NASA: We wanted to make that connection. It’s not just rockets, astronauts, and telescopes. Hundreds of thousands of people come together to make these missions possible, and that’s the part that’s really interesting for me.
“I like to hold a mirror to other people, and in every Faces of NASA interview, I try to hold a mirror up to what the person has accomplished to get them to be proud of it. For many of those people, it’s the first time they have to self-reflect.
“That’s what’s really nice about [the Faces of NASA project]. Everyone who works here is just living day-to-day, so when they have an opportunity to stop for a moment and look back on how far they’ve come… it’s the best feeling for both of us. They’re like, ‘Wow, I’ve never really stopped to think about how much I’ve accomplished or how far I’ve come.’ And I get to share that moment with them. That’s my favorite part of Faces of NASA.”
– Thalia Patrinos, Communications Strategist, PCI Productions, NASA Headquarters
Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Interviewer: NASA/Tahira Allen
How NASA Citizen Science Fuels Future Exoplanet Research
5 min read
How NASA Citizen Science Fuels Future Exoplanet Research
This artist’s concept shows the exoplanet K2-33b transiting its host star. Many citizen science projects at NASA invite the public to use transit data to make discoveries about exoplanets.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s upcoming flagship astrophysics missions, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will study planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. Over 5,000 exoplanets have been confirmed to date — and given that scientists estimate at least one exoplanet exists for every star in the sky, the hunt has just begun. Exoplanet discoveries from Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory may not be made only by professional researchers, but also by interested members of the public, known as citizen scientists.
Exoplanet research has a long involvement with citizen science. NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission and now-retired Kepler mission, which are responsible for the vast majority of exoplanet discoveries to date, both made observations freely available to the public immediately after processing. This open science policy paved the way for the public to get involved with NASA’s exoplanet science.
NASA’s Planet Hunters TESS project invites the public to classify exoplanet light curves from TESS online. Another project, Exoplanet Watch, allows citizen scientists to gather data about known exoplanets, submit their observations to NASA’s public data archive, and receive credit if their observation is used in a scientific paper. Participants don’t even need their own telescope — Exoplanet Watch also curates data from robotic telescopes for users to process.
Artist’s concept of NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). Data from TESS have been used in citizen science projects.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
“Anyone across the world who has access to a smartphone or a laptop can fully participate in a lot of these citizen science efforts to help us learn more about the cosmos,” said Rob Zellem, the project lead and project scientist for Exoplanet Watch and astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA’s citizen science projects have discovered several new planets from Kepler and TESS data. They have also helped scientists refine the best time to observe important targets, saving hours of precious observation time on current flagship missions like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory provide even more possibilities for citizen science. Expected to launch by May 2027, Roman will discover exoplanets through direct imaging, transits, and gravitational microlensing. Following that, the Habitable Worlds Observatory will take direct images of stars in our solar neighborhood to find potentially habitable planets and study their atmospheres.
The general public can get Roman data as quickly as I can as a scientist working on the mission.
Rob Zellem
Exoplanet Watch Project Lead and Project Scientist; Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Deputy Project Scientist for Communications
Like Kepler and TESS before them, data from Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory will be available to both the scientific community and the public immediately after processing. With Roman’s surveys expected to deliver a terabyte of data to Earth every day — over 17 times as much as Webb — there is a huge opportunity for the public to help sift through the information.
“The general public can get Roman data as quickly as I can as a scientist working on the mission,” said Zellem, who also serves as Roman’s deputy project scientist for communications at NASA Goddard. “It truly makes Roman a mission for everyone and anyone.”
Although the Habitable Worlds Observatory’s full capabilities and instrumentation have yet to be finalized, the inclusion of citizen science is expected to continue. The team behind the mission is embracing a community-oriented planning approach by opening up working groups to volunteers who want to contribute.
“It’s already setting the tone for open science with the Habitable Worlds Observatory,” said Megan Ansdell, the program scientist for the mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The process is as open as possible, and these working groups are open to anybody in the world who wants to join.” There are already over 1,000 community working group members participating, some of whom are citizen scientists.
The Roman Coronagraph, photographed during testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, is a technology demonstration designed to block starlight and allow scientists to see the faint light from planets outside our solar system. It represents one of multiple ways that Roman will contribute to exoplanet research.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Future citizen science initiatives may be combined with cutting-edge tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) for greater efficacy. “AI can be exceptionally powerful in terms of classification and identifying anomalous things,” said Joshua Pepper, the deputy program scientist for the Habitable Worlds Observatory at NASA Headquarters. “But the evaluation of what those anomalous things are often requires human insight, intervention, and review, and I think that could be a really fantastic area for citizen scientists to participate.”
Before Roman and the Habitable Worlds Observatory launch, exoplanet citizen scientists still have plenty of data to analyze from the Kepler and TESS satellites, but the contributions of the community will become even more important when data begin pouring in from the new missions. As Zellem said, “We’re in a golden age of exoplanet science right now.”
NASA’s citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public and do not require U.S. citizenship. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries. To get involved with a project, visit NASA’s Citizen Science page.
By Lauren Leese Web Content Strategist for the Office of the Chief Science Data Officer
After the usual morning routine of doing some engineering housekeeping, Curiosity continues to take some remote science observations. We take a ChemCam LIBS observation and a Mastcam image of the “Peeler Lake” target, a dark, nodular target that appears to be more erosion-resistant than nearby rocks. By comparing Peeler Lake to “Kings Canyon” (which also has some nodules), the science team may be able to determine more about their relative compositions. ChemCam also takes RMI images of the Kings Canyon drill tailings. There is also a ChemCam RMI mosaic of Gediz Vallis and a Mastcam of the “Sky High Lake” target, which is a rock with a gray coating. The last thing in this science block is an image down the CheMin inlet before we deliver sample to the instrument. After a long nap, in the late afternoon we have the first part of a large Mastcam mosaic of “Milestone Peak” channel deposits and we add some more frames to our ongoing 360-degree panorama. This late afternoon lighting helps highlight layers and textures. We also have our normal DAN and REMS observations throughout the plan.
After another nap, Curiosity wakes up to deliver sample to CheMin. We do this by pointing the drill bit over the open CheMin inlet and using a tiny bit of percussion and rotation to release some sample from the drill. We do this late in the afternoon to reduce the time between delivering the sample and starting the analysis (which has to happen in the cooler temperatures of nighttime) to minimize the degradation of the sample. After allowing CheMin to analyze the sample for most of the night, Curiosity wakes up and dumps out the sample to avoid it sticking too much inside the instrument.
On the second sol of the plan, Curiosity is taking more remote-sensing observations. Navcam atmospheric dust observations kick off first. ChemCam then takes a LIBS observation of “Sky High Lake” followed by RMI images inside the drill hole (to take a look at the interior layers of the rock) and Gediz Vallis. Last in this morning block, there are Mastcam images of Sky High Lake and a post-dropoff image of the open CheMin inlet to look for any sample that may be stuck there. In the late afternoon, we finish up the Milestone Peak mosaic.
Written by Ashley Stroupe, Mission Operations Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Cygnus Unpacking and Research Continue as Managers Discuss Starliner Updates
The Cygnus cargo craft is pictured in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm as the International Space Station orbited 262 miles above the Mediterranean Sea.
The residents aboard the International Space Station continued unpacking several tons of science and supplies packed inside Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft on Wednesday. The seven-member Expedition 71 crew also studied an array of space research while the two Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts from NASA reviewed their Starliner spacecraft’s systems.
NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps spent the afternoon transferring cargo out of the newly arrived Cygnus space freighter. Starliner Pilot Suni Williams started the cargo work during the morning beginning the job of replenishing the orbital outpost with food, fuel, supplies, and new science experiments.
Earlier in the day, Dominick and Barratt conducted science operations to learn more about Earth’s climate and install a new research incubator. Dominick photographed the Moon from inside the cupola to measure sunshine reflected from the Earth. Results may provide scientists insights into climate change. Barratt installed and activated the Space Automated Lab Incubator (SALI) inside the Kibo laboratory module. The SALI can host a variety of samples at a range of temperatures supporting numerous space investigations into biology and physics.
Epps and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson also spent their day on a variety of station science and maintenance duties. Epps transferred water between life support systems, configured a radiation detector, then wrapped up her shift with biomedical checks. Dyson worked inside the Destiny laboratory module throughout Wednesday configuring research hardware to study stem cells for treatment purposes and commercial use.
Williams joined Starliner Commander Butch Wilmore and reviewed on a pair of tablet computers the Boeing Starliner crew flight procedures and systems to maintain their operational proficiency. NASA managers also provided mission updates and answered reporter’s questions about Starliner and space station operations during a media teleconference on Wednesday.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub tested the telerobotically operated rendezvous unit’s, or TORU, ability to communicate with the Progress 87 space freighter docked to the Zvezda service module’s rear port. The Progress 87 is due to depart the orbital outpost early next week making space for the arrival of the Progress 89 cargo craft with a fresh load of food, fuel, and supplies just over a week later. The TORU would be used to remotely control a Roscosmos spaceship in the unlikely event the spacecraft would be unable to complete its automated arrival or departure.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin spent a portion of his day on a host of orbital household duties including plumbing and camera battery charging. He later partnered with Kononenko and Chub and recorded a series of congratulatory and greeting videos for their home space agency.
Here’s How Curiosity’s Sky Crane Changed the Way NASA Explores Mars
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This artist’s concept shows how NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was lowered to the planet’s surface using the sky crane maneuver.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
The rocket-powered descent stage that lowered NASA’s Curiosity onto the Martian surface is guided over the rover by technicians at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in September 2011, two months before the mission’s launch.
NASA/Kim Shiflett
Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack.
NASA’s Curiosity rover mission is celebrating a dozen years on the Red Planet, where the six-wheeled scientist continues to make big discoveries as it inches up the foothills of a Martian mountain. Just landing successfully on Mars is a feat, but the Curiosity mission went several steps further on Aug. 5, 2012, touching down with a bold new technique: the sky crane maneuver.
A swooping robotic jetpack delivered Curiosity to its landing area and lowered it to the surface with nylon ropes, then cut the ropes and flew off to conduct a controlled crash landing safely out of range of the rover.
Of course, all of this was out of view for Curiosity’s engineering team, which sat in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, waiting for seven agonizing minutes before erupting in joy when they got the signal that the rover landed successfully.
Encased in its aeroshell, NASA’s Curiosity rover descended through the Martian atmosphere on a parachute on Aug. 5, 2012. The scene was captured from far above by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
This was one of the first images sent back by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover after landing on Aug. 5, 2012. It was taken by the one of the hazard-avoidance camera on the rover’s left-rear side.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The sky crane maneuver was born of necessity: Curiosity was too big and heavy to land as its predecessors had — encased in airbags that bounced across the Martian surface. The technique also added more precision, leading to a smaller landing ellipse.
During the February 2021 landing of Perseverance, NASA’s newest Mars rover, the sky crane technology was even more precise: The addition of something called terrain relative navigation enabled the SUV-size rover to touch down safely in an ancient lake bed riddled with rocks and craters.
Watch as NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars in 2021 with the same sky crane maneuver Curiosity used in 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Evolution of a Mars Landing
JPL has been involved in NASA’s Mars landings since 1976, when the lab worked with the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, on the two stationary Viking landers, which touched down using expensive, throttled descent engines.
For the 1997 landing of the Mars Pathfinder mission, JPL proposed something new: As the lander dangled from a parachute, a cluster of giant airbags would inflate around it. Then three retrorockets halfway between the airbags and the parachute would bring the spacecraft to a halt above the surface, and the airbag-encased spacecraft would drop roughly 66 feet (20 meters) down to Mars, bouncing numerous times — sometimes as high as 50 feet (15 meters) — before coming to rest.
The entry, descent, and landing team for NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover celebrates the spacecraft’s touchdown on Aug. 5, 2012. Al Chen, who was part of the team, is at right.
Curiosity Landing Team Celebrates
It worked so well that NASA used the same technique to land the Spirit and Opportunity rovers in 2004. But that time, there were only a few locations on Mars where engineers felt confident the spacecraft wouldn’t encounter a landscape feature that could puncture the airbags or send the bundle rolling uncontrollably downhill.
“We barely found three places on Mars that we could safely consider,” said JPL’s Al Chen, who had critical roles on the entry, descent, and landing teams for both Curiosity and Perseverance.
It also became clear that airbags simply weren’t feasible for a rover as big and heavy as Curiosity. If NASA wanted to land bigger spacecraft in more scientifically exciting locations, better technology was needed.
Rover on a Rope
In early 2000, engineers began playing with the concept of a “smart” landing system. New kinds of radars had become available to provide real-time velocity readings — information that could help spacecraft control their descent. A new type of engine could be used to nudge the spacecraft toward specific locations or even provide some lift, directing it away from a hazard. The sky crane maneuver was taking shape.
JPL Fellow Rob Manning worked on the initial concept in February 2000, and he remembers the reception it got when people saw that it put the jetpack above the rover rather than below it.
“People were confused by that,” he said. “They assumed propulsion would always be below you, like you see in old science fiction with a rocket touching down on a planet.”
Manning and colleagues wanted to put as much distance as possible between the ground and those thrusters. Besides stirring up debris, a lander’s thrusters could dig a hole that a rover wouldn’t be able to drive out of. And while past missions had used a lander that housed the rovers and extended a ramp for them to roll down, putting thrusters above the rover meant its wheels could touch down directly on the surface, effectively acting as landing gear and saving the extra weight of bringing along a landing platform.
But engineers were unsure how to suspend a large rover from ropes without it swinging uncontrollably. Looking at how the problem had been solved for huge cargo helicopters on Earth (called sky cranes), they realized Curiosity’s jetpack needed to be able to sense the swinging and control it.
“All of that new technology gives you a fighting chance to get to the right place on the surface,” said Chen.
Best of all, the concept could be repurposed for larger spacecraft — not only on Mars, but elsewhere in the solar system. “In the future, if you wanted a payload delivery service, you could easily use that architecture to lower to the surface of the Moon or elsewhere without ever touching the ground,” said Manning.
More About the Mission
Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
