On Jan. 16, 2020, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this image of two types of sand dunes on Mars: barchan and linear dunes.
The small dots are called barchan dunes, and from their shape we can tell that they are upwind. The downwind dunes are long and linear. These two types of dune each show the wind direction in different ways: the barchans have a steep slope and crescent-shaped “horns” that point downwind, while the linear dunes are stretched out along the primary wind direction. Linear dunes, however, typically indicate at least two different prevailing winds, which stretch out the sand along their average direction.
Barchan and linear dunes aren’t just a Martian phenomenon – we can also see them on Earth. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have snapped photos of them occurring in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
NASA to Highlight Artemis, US Space Leadership During Annual Address
Credit: NASA
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will discuss the agency’s goals for the benefit of humanity during the annual State of NASA address on Monday, March 11. The event will coincide with the release of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal.
The event will air live at 1 p.m. EDT on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. NASA TV can be streamed on a variety of platforms, including social media.
During State of NASA, Nelson will speak about the agency’s plans for promoting U.S. leadership in space exploration, improving life on Earth through innovation, humanity’s return to the Moon under the Artemis campaign, and more. Senior leaders from each of NASA’s mission directorates also will discuss advancements in their areas ranging from aeronautics and science research to space operations.
At 2:30 p.m., Nelson will kick off a media teleconference with Chief Financial Officer Margaret Vo Schaus, who will present information about the fiscal year 2025 funding request for the agency. Media interested in participating in the teleconference must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the call to: hq-media@mail.nasa.gov.
The schedule of activities is based on the president’s budget release on Monday and is subject to change.
The budget proposal for NASA and supporting information will be available online that afternoon at:
NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter’s Moon Europa
This side of a commemorative plate mounted on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft features U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” It will be affixed with a silicon microchip stenciled with names submitted by the public.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
When it launches in October, the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.
Following in NASA’s storied tradition of sending inspirational messages into space, the agency has special plans for Europa Clipper, which later this year will launch toward Jupiter’s moon Europa. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth’s oceans combined. A triangular metal plate on the spacecraft will honor that connection to Earth in several ways.
At the heart of the artifact is an engraving of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be the centerpiece of an illustration of a bottle amid the Jovian system – a reference to NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft.
A ‘Golden Record’ for Europa
Made of the metal tantalum and about 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters), the plate features graphic elements on both sides. The outward-facing panel features art that highlights Earth’s connection to Europa. Linguists collected recordings of the word “water” spoken in 103 languages, from families of languages around the world. The audio files were converted into waveforms (visual representations of sound waves) and etched into the plate. The waveforms radiate out from a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for “water.”
To hear audio of the spoken languages and see the sign, go to: go.nasa.gov/MakeWaves.
In the spirit of the Voyager spacecraft’s Golden Record, which carries sounds and images to convey the richness and diversity of life on Earth, the layered message on Europa Clipper aims to spark the imagination and offer a unifying vision.
The art on this side of the plate, which will seal an opening of the vault on NASA’s Europa Clipper, features waveforms that are visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word “water” in 103 languages. At center is a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for “water.”
NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The content and design of Europa Clipper’s vault plate are swimming with meaning,” said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The plate combines the best humanity has to offer across the universe – science, technology, education, art, and math. The message of connection through water, essential for all forms of life as we know it, perfectly illustrates Earth’s tie to this mysterious ocean world we are setting out to explore.”
Reaching Out to the Cosmos
In 2030, after a 1.6-billion-mile (2.6-billion-kilometer) journey, Europa Clipper will begin orbiting Jupiter, making 49 close flybys of Europa. To determine if there are conditions that could support life, the spacecraft’s powerful suite of science instruments will gather data about the moon’s subsurface ocean, icy crust, thin atmosphere, and space environment. The electronics for those instruments are housed in a massive metal vault designed to protect them from Jupiter’s punishing radiation. The commemorative plate will seal an opening in the vault.
Because searching for habitable conditions is central to the mission, the Drake Equation is etched onto the plate as well – on the inward-facing side. Astronomer Frank Drake developed the mathematical formulation in 1961 to estimate the possibility of finding advanced civilizations beyond Earth. The equation has inspired and guided research in astrobiology and related fields ever since.
Learn more about how Europa Clipper’s vault plate engravings were designed and the inspiration for the plate’s multilayered message. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In addition, artwork on the inward-facing side of the plate will include a reference to the radio frequencies considered plausible for interstellar communication, symbolizing how humanity uses this radio band to listen for messages from the cosmos. These particular frequencies match the radio waves emitted in space by the components of water and are known by astronomers as the “water hole.” On the plate, they are depicted as radio emission lines.
Finally, the plate includes a portrait of one of the founders of planetary science, Ron Greeley, whose early efforts to develop a Europa mission two decades ago laid the foundation for Europa Clipper.
“We’ve packed a lot of thought and inspiration into this plate design, as we have into this mission itself,” says Project Scientist Robert Pappalardo of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It’s been a decades-long journey, and we can’t wait to see what Europa Clipper shows us at this water world.”
Once assembly of Europa Clipper has been completed at JPL, the spacecraft will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its October launch.
More About the Mission
Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
NASA Moon to Mars Architecture Workshops Promote Collaboration
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy welcomes 2024 Moon to Mars Architecture Workshop attendees from the stage of the Fred Kavli at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington.
NASA/Keegan Barber
NASA held two workshops in mid-February to share the latest progress on the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture and solicit feedback from industry, academia, and the international community. Representatives from 18 countries, 85 aerospace companies, and 25 academic institutions shared their perspectives on NASA’s roadmap for long-term lunar exploration and humanity’s journey to the Red Planet.
50 attendees representing 18 countries attended the Moon to Mars Architecture Workshop on Feb. 20. In this photo, attendees and NASA personnel gather for a photo in the great hall of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington.
NASA/Greg Mercer
NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture is derived from the agency’s Moon to Mars Objectives, a set of overarching guideposts for exploration. NASA evolves and refines the architecture as part of its annual Architecture Concept Review process, which includes workshops to gather feedback on NASA’s process and results, and produces a yearly Architecture Definition Document, which details the architecture and overall approach.
The 2023 Architecture Concept Review cycle resulted in a first revision of the Architecture Definition Document, 13 white papers on relevant topics, and studies critical to understanding NASA’s needs and capability gaps. The agency also identified seven key decisions that will need to be made early in the process of developing a human Mars exploration architecture.
The latest workshops, hosted by the Space Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences, encouraged the agency’s partners from industry, academia, and around the world to provide feedback on these latest updates and discuss how they can contribute to the architecture. Through feedback sessions, attendees suggested areas for improvement and offered recommendations for future focus areas.
140 attendees representing 110 industry and academic organizations attended the Moon to Mars Architecture Workshop on Feb. 22. In this photo, attendees and NASA personnel gather for a photo in the great hall of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington.
NASA/Greg Mercer
These opportunities to hear from the broader aerospace community also help NASA identify partnerships that can overcome capability gaps or enhance the fulfillment of the Moon to Mars Objectives.
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon; land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface; and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.
Noelia González, escritora y editora científica sénior de la NASA en español
“Obviamente, el español tiene mucho que ver con la accesibilidad y la ampliación de nuestro público. Utilizamos el español como una herramienta para romper esas barreras y conectar con las audiencias. El español es el idioma con el que crecí en Uruguay y el idioma con el que me siento más cómoda. Es maravilloso que pueda utilizarlo como un puente para comunicarme con nuestros públicos en diferentes plataformas.
“Queremos informar, pero también deseamos inspirar y relatar las historias que van más allá de las misiones y la ciencia. Deseamos contar las historias personales en [‘Universo curioso de la NASA’, el primer pódcast en español de la NASA].
“Comenzamos como un episodio extra de una miniserie de un podcast que ya existía [en inglés], ‘NASA’s Curious Universe, pero queríamos desarrollar algo que fuera único, que estuviera específicamente adaptado al público hispano de Estados Unidos y de todo el mundo. Que tuviera nuestro estilo y nuestra voz. Y me siento muy, muy afortunada, orgullosa y agradecida de haber tenido la oportunidad de desarrollar ese pódcast desde cero, con la orientación y el trabajo de otros colegas.
“Como inmigrante que soy, haciendo reportajes sobre otros inmigrantes, quiero mostrarle a la gente que el espacio exterior es para todos, y eso es algo que repetimos una y otra vez. Constantemente confirmo cuán cierto es ese mensaje porque va más allá de la NASA. Va más allá de Estados Unidos. No hay fronteras en el espacio. La gente que trabaja en estas misiones está haciendo algo por la humanidad, no solo por la agencia espacial. Aunque no soy científica ni ingeniera, me siento parte de ello. Yo soy parte de estos momentos históricos, como cuando lanzamos Artemis y la Prueba de Redireccionamiento del Asteroide Doble, DART [por sus siglas en español]”.
– Noelia González, escritora y editora científica sénior de la NASA en español, ADNET Systems, Centro de Vuelos Espaciales Goddard de la NASA
Crédito de la imagen: NASA / Angeles Miron Entrevistadora: NASA / Angel Kumari
