Kennedy Space Center Looks Ahead to a Busy Year in 2024

Another jam-packed year is in store for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the momentum of a busy 2023 is carried forward into the new year. On the horizon are missions to the Moon, more crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station, and several upgrade projects across the spaceport.

NASA’s first CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative mission with Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is set to begin work in 2024 after lifting off on the inaugural launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. These missions will help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis ahead of sending astronauts to the lunar surface. 

Another CLPS mission, set for launch early in the year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will send the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander to a landing site at the Moon’s South Pole region. The mission will carry NASA payloads focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.  

Development toward Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed test flight of its lunar-focused Artemis program continues across Kennedy. SLS (Space Launch System) hardware, including twin solid rocket boosters and a 212-foot-tall core stage for the Artemis II mission, will begin stacking and integration inside the Vehicle Assembly Building in the coming months, after which teams will begin a series of testing prior to launch. Processing also is underway on the core stage for Artemis III. 

The Artemis II Orion crew and service modules will continue prelaunch processing inside Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building alongside the crew modules for Artemis III and Artemis IV– NASA’s initial missions to land the next humans on the lunar surface.  

NASA and its commercial partners, Boeing and SpaceX, have three Commercial Crew Program missions set to fly from Florida’s Space Coast, setting up another busy year of traffic for the International Space Station in 2024. Teams are readying for the short-duration Crew Flight Test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner no earlier than April. Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX will continue crew rotation missions to the orbiting laboratory with Crew-8 expected no earlier than mid-February and Crew-9 to follow in mid-August.  

Other crewed missions to the space station include SpaceX and Axiom Space’s short-duration Axiom Mission 3 and Axiom Mission 4 private astronaut missions.  

SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn, the second private short-duration orbital flight will also lift off from Kennedy with four individuals that plan to attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk. 

Along with crewed flights, three of the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services missions hosted on SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, and the debut flight of Sierra Space’s cargo spaceplane, Dream Chaser, are slated to fly from Kennedy next year to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies, equipment, and science investigations to the orbiting laboratory. 

NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy has several science and CubeSat missions manifested to fly on commercial rockets next year. They represent a mix of some of the agency’s most complex robotic and scientific missions, as well as smaller cost-efficient missions, and missions sponsored by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. 

The first of three primary missions is NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft that will launch early next year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. PACE’s science goals include extending ocean color, atmospheric aerosol, and cloud data records for Earth system and climate studies.  

GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U) is slated to launch in April on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the fourth and final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series of advanced geostationary weather-observing satellites. Scheduled for an October launch on a Falcon Heavy, the agency’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa to determine if it has conditions suitable to support life.  

Among the small spacecraft and CubeSat missions slated to launch in 2024 are two dedicated launches on Rocket Lab’s Electron for PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Infrared Experiment), which aims to give researchers a more accurate picture of the energy entering and leaving Earth. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket will host NASA’s EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission that will send two spacecraft to study solar wind energy and momentum through Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere. 

While next year’s expected cadence of nearly 100 launches from Florida’s Space Coast is likely to mirror 2023’s record-setting pace, something else to look out for will be upgrade and sustainability efforts around the spaceport.  

The Indian River Bridge construction project, which opened the first of two spans in June of 2023, and the solar site 6 project of the Utility Energy Services Contract, are expected to wrap up and become fully operational next year. 

Restoration and beautification efforts across Kennedy also include the consideration of several sites for development into natural wildflower prairies. In the spring, Spaceport Integration’s sustainability team will work on “Project Arbor at the Spaceport.” It will focus on planting Florida native trees and one seedling from the Artemis Moon Tree project along the Fitness Trail near Operations Support Building II to provide shade, benefit wildlife, and help improve air quality. 

A historical marker sponsored by NASA and the Florida Department of State will be installed in early 2024 at the site of Kennedy’s original Headquarters Building making it the first to be located within Kennedy’s secure area. 

As 2023 draws to a close, Kennedy Space Center is gearing up to support more groundbreaking missions that will expand human knowledge of Earth and our solar system while protecting the local ecosystem and natural resources. 

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Jamie Groh

Going the Extra 500 miles for Alaskan River Ice

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Going the Extra 500 miles for Alaskan River Ice

Teachers and students in remote Alaskan villages have become vital NASA climate researchers. These special volunteers are so important that last year, climate scientists took an epic 550 mile snowmobile journey to collaborate with them! You can learn all about it in a new video from the Fresh Eyes on Ice project.

The researchers stopped at several remote Alaskan villages, where teachers and students at the local schools already understood why this work was so crucial. When you drive over ice-covered rivers every day—as many Alaskan residents do—tracking ice thickness is no joke. Neither is climate change.

“We knew that climate change was happening around us.” explains Joyanne Hamilton, a teacher whose students worked with the team. “Our elders here in Shageluk were talking about changes that were happening….the data they’re gathering is ultimately important to the tribe.” 

The new video features Hamilton, her students, and Fresh Eyes on Ice researchers Dr. Chris Arp, Allen Bondurant and Sarah Clement. It follows their journey along the Innoko, Kukokwim and Yukon Rivers and the Iditarod Sled Dog Trail.

Do you live in Alaska or elsewhere in North America where ice forms? All you need to help out is a smartphone and NASA’s GLOBE Observer Landcover app. Your photos will be used in near-real time by river forecasters to help predict spring ice jam flooding, and by scientists to understand how ice timing and extent is changing. Join Fresh Eyes on Ice here!

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Scientists and Students Discuss the Future of Space Research at ASGSR Annual Conference

The American Society for Gravitational and Space Research’s (ASGSR) annual meeting brought together over 850 scientists, engineers, educators, and students from around the world to share their latest findings on microgravity research and discuss the future of space exploration. ASGSR stands at the forefront for fostering groundbreaking research and highlighting the cutting-edge science happening now using microgravity, low-gravity, radiation, and other space-based stressors.

The meeting, held in Washington, D.C., November 14-18, 2023, featured a variety of general and technical sessions, student fireside chats, and working sessions exploring the conference’s theme: The Future of Space Exploration: Challenges and Opportunities.

Dr. Lisa Carnell, NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences’ (BPS) Division Director, opened the conference with her keynote presentation on the state of BPS. Carnell shared that if the U.S. wants to maintain science leadership, with the intent to go farther and stay longer in space, we must continue to pioneer transformative science at the frontiers of biology and physical sciences. Carnell encouraged attendees to look ahead for ways to support the technologies and infrastructure that will be needed to carry out this science.

Former astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar echoed Carnell’s remarks as she expressed the need for adequate funding of this scientific and space-based research as a critical path needed for sustainable exploration. Dunbar challenged the group to build upon the pioneering work of BPS to inspire the next generation of space scientists, engineers, and astronauts.

ASGSR hosted over 300 presentations where speakers and participants shared their latest findings and discussed the future of space exploration, a few highlighted topics follow:

• The development of new technologies to enable sustainable space exploration
• The effects of gravity on biological systems
• The need to support the commercial space industry to ensure the continuation of research and success of the commercial space economy
• The growing importance of international collaboration in space research
• The potential of space exploration to benefit life on Earth
• The search for new knowledge about the universe
• The use of space-based research to address global challenges such as climate change and food security

Next year’s ASGSR conference will be held in Puerto Rico, December 3-7, 2024.

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NASA’s Hubble Watches ‘Spoke Season’ on Saturn

This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes.

Saturn’s spokes are transient features that rotate along with the rings. Their ghostly appearance only persists for two or three rotations around Saturn. During active periods, freshly-formed spokes continuously add to the pattern.

In 1981, NASA’s Voyager 2 first photographed the ring spokes. NASA’s Cassini orbiter also saw the spokes during its 13-year-long mission that ended in 2017.

Hubble continues observing Saturn annually as the spokes come and go. This cycle has been captured by Hubble’s Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program that began nearly a decade ago to annually monitor weather changes on all four gas-giant outer planets.

Hubble’s crisp images show that the frequency of spoke apparitions is seasonally driven, first appearing in OPAL data in 2021 but only on the morning (left) side of the rings. Long-term monitoring show that both the number and contrast of the spokes vary with Saturn’s seasons. Saturn is tilted on its axis like Earth and has seasons lasting approximately seven years.

“We are heading towards Saturn equinox, when we’d expect maximum spoke activity, with higher frequency and darker spokes appearing over the next few years,” said the OPAL program lead scientist, Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

This year, these ephemeral structures appear on both sides of the planet simultaneously as they spin around the giant world. Although they look small compared with Saturn, their length and width can stretch longer than Earth’s diameter!

“The leading theory is that spokes are tied to Saturn’s powerful magnetic field, with some sort of solar interaction with the magnetic field that gives you the spokes,” said Simon. When it’s near the equinox on Saturn, the planet and its rings are less tilted away from the Sun. In this configuration, the solar wind may more strongly batter Saturn’s immense magnetic field, enhancing spoke formation.

Planetary scientists think that electrostatic forces generated from this interaction levitate dust or ice above the ring to form the spokes, though after several decades no theory perfectly predicts the spokes. Continued Hubble observations may eventually help solve the mystery.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble and Webb science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.

Media Contacts:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD

Science Contact:

Amy Simon
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

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NASA Stennis Internship Brings Aerospace Industry to Life

A first-generation student from North Carolina will return to school in January feeling more motivated and better connected to her future thanks to time invested as a NASA Pathways Intern at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

Raquel Cervantes Espinosa, the first member of her family to attend college and a rising junior at Duke University, applied to the internship at NASA Stennis because of opportunities the site presented, such as working with large rocket engines. She admits to initially being nervous, having never traveled to Mississippi or the Gulf Coast area.

The electrical engineering major says she was welcomed with open arms. She grew fond of the diverse and highly skilled workforce that showed how her studies apply to working with NASA, which makes leaving after the fall semester bittersweet.

“It feels like NASA is really investing in me as an individual, and the people that I work with make it feel that way, too,” Cervantes Espinosa said. “I feel valued here and feel like I can grow with my career and degree studies in terms of what I want to do in the future. I really enjoyed my time at NASA Stennis during the fall and look forward to returning in the summer.”

During the fall semester, Cervantes Espinosa worked with test stand camera systems, including those in support of NASA’s certification test series of the RS-25 engine. The series will lead to production of updated engines that will help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.

“Raquel had a great first semester as a Pathways Intern learning about various electrical and mechanical systems,” said David Carver, deputy branch chief of the Electrical Operations Branch at NASA Stennis. “Her shining accomplishment for the semester was the new test operations video system that she helped design and bring online. The system will provide test engineers with new insight into the operation and health of critical propulsion systems. I look forward to seeing what she accomplishes in the future.”

The thermal visual cameras set up by Cervantes Espinosa at the Fred Haise Test Stand, where RS-25 hot fires take place, help ensure safe operations by allowing engineers to monitor key areas of the test stand, such as the liquid oxygen stalls and hydrogen systems. The cameras can also identify potential gas leaks not seen with the naked eye. Additionally, Cervantes Espinosa had the opportunity to analyze data and work on instruments that are used on the RS-25 engine.

“A lot of the experience I’m getting from working at NASA Stennis, a lot of the stuff I’m learning now, is really shaping how I see engineering differently than I used to,” she said.

The Duke student says one key takeaway from the fall semester was learning beyond electrical engineering and understanding how her physics minor can be applied in the aerospace industry – an industry she now wants to join following graduation.

On pace to graduate in 2026, Cervantes Espinosa said it can be challenging at times in unfamiliar territory, whether as an intern at NASA Stennis or as a first-generation engineering student.

“I would encourage other first-generation students to keep your head up and keep going,” Cervantes Espinosa said. “It sounds very cliché, but I think it’s really accurate for people like me and a lot of my friends who are first-generation students in engineering and beginning to immerse ourselves into the workforce and see what we need to do. Keep your head up, keep going, and really take advantage of such opportunities because they are out there, and people want the best for you and want to invest in you. You just have to go and seize the opportunity.”

The NASA Pathways Intern Program opens in the spring and fall each year with job postings on USAJobs.gov. The application windows open two times each year – typically around February and September.

For information about the NASA Pathways program, visit:

NASA Careers: Pathways – NASA

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Stay connected with the mission on social media, and let people know you’re following it on X, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtags #NASAStennis #Pathways #Artemis. Follow and tag these accounts:

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LaToya Dean