Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Glenn Research Center Deputy Director Dawn Schaible provided an overview to more than 20 mayors and city manager from northeast Ohio during an event at the Ohio Aerospace Institute in Brook Park, Ohio, on Nov. 9. She highlighted Glenn’s work and the positive impact it has on the local community, state, and region. Following the event, the group toured several test and research facilities at NASA Glenn’s Lewis Field.
Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association members gather in front of NASA Glenn Research Center’s hangar.
Conceived in 2020, Break the Ice tasked innovators with creating robotic systems that can traverse the volatile terrain of the Lunar South Pole. These robots must be able to dig into the Moon’s regolith – the dusty, icy “dirt” that makes up the lunar surface – and transport it to a secondary location for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) processing.
If deployed on a NASA mission, these systems would operate in the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, an area that receives no sunlight. These technologies must survive bitterly cold conditions and cannot rely on solar power regeneration. If successful, NASA can excavate the regolith from this area and use the resources derived from the materials, like frozen water, to aid astronauts living on the Moon.
“Our goal is to provide solutions to make living on the Moon a reality, and Break the Ice directly contributes to that mission,” said Denise Morris, program manager for NASA’s Centennial Challenges. “Excavating lunar regolith before humans arrive on the Moon will allow us to find uses for that material before they get there – if we could build a lunar habitat out of the regolith or extract the water for our astronauts to drink, that means less mass on our vehicles and less work for our crews.”
Phase 1 of the competition focused on designing systems that could achieve three components: excavation, travel, and delivery. Of the 31 teams who submitted eligible proposals, 13 won cash prizes ranging from $25,000 to $125,000.
Phase 2: Level 1 opened in June 2022. Consisting of Phase 1 winners and newcomers, 25 teams developed their initial designs into prototypes with technical reports, engineering designs, and test plans. Six months later, 13 U.S. semifinalists were named, each earning an equal share of $500,000. Two international teams were also recognized as semifinalists, though they were not eligible to receive monetary prizes from NASA.
In Phase 2: Level 2, the finalist pool comprised of garage inventors, academics, industry professionals, and hobbyists from 11 U.S. states, the Netherlands, and India. Nine of these teams attempted a 15-day demonstration trial at their own testing sites to prove the capabilities of their prototypes. The teams live-streamed the tests and took turns hosting representatives from Centennial Challenges for in-person observations.
“What impresses me the most with this batch of competitors is their innate ability to each find unique ways to approach the solution,” said Break the Ice Challenge Manager Naveen Vetcha, who supports Centennial Challenges through Jacobs Space Exploration Group. “Each site visit provided our subject matter experts with new ways to think about this technology and operations, and some of these teams expanded our expectations for how to bridge this technology gap.”
The Phase 2: Level 2 winning teams are:
1st Place ($300,000): Starpath Robotics (San Francisco, CA)
2nd Place ($200,000): Terra Engineering (Gardena, CA)
3rd Place ($125,000): The Ice Diggers (Golden, CO)
Runners Up ($75,000 each):
Cislune Excavators (Los Angeles, CA)
Space Trajectory (Brookings, SD)
MTU Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (Houghton, MI)
In this last round of competitions, scheduled to take place in the spring of 2024, the above winners will bring their prototypes to a NASA-designated test facility for a series of head-to-head matchups. Expected testing includes excavation under reduced gravity – using gravity off-loading – and transportation over complex terrain, including rocks, craters, slopes, turns, and loose granular soil.
“Bringing the competitors to one central location is the best way to end a challenge like Break the Ice because it provides us with an opportunity to observe and test their designs in a common relevant environment,” said Mark Hilburger, a senior research engineer in the Space Technology Exploration Directorate at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and principal technologist for Break the Ice. “These technologies must be thoroughly tested to survive on the Moon, so a test opportunity like this helps the teams prove if their prototypes are up to the task.”
This final round of competition will offer up to $1.5 million in cash prizes, split between first place ($1 million) and second place ($500,000). NASA will also award opportunities for teams to test their concepts at one of the agency’s Thermal Vacuum Chambers, which can simulate the temperature and atmospheric pressure conditions at the Lunar South Pole.
New Course from NASA Helps Build Open, Inclusive Science Community
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA released its free Open Science 101 curriculum Wednesday to empower researchers, early career scientists, and underrepresented communities with the knowledge and tools necessary to embrace open science practices.
The curriculum’s initial goal is to train 20,000 scientists and researchers over the next five years, enabling them to embrace open science practices and maximize the impact of their work.
“NASA is committed to ensuring people around the world have equal and open access to science data whenever they need it,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “This innovative curriculum will support the White House’s Year of Open Science to help people make informed, research-based decisions that will benefit humanity and improve life here on Earth.”
Developed by NASA’s Transform to Open Science initiative in collaboration with subject matter experts, the curriculum is designed to meet researchers at every stage of their open science journey – catering to those new to open science, established researchers, and aspiring students looking to embark on scientific careers. It also helps prepare researchers to incorporate required open science data management plans when applying for NASA grant funding.
“We believe education is a shared endeavor that can be achieved through community-driven learning,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our new curriculum is a testament to the incredible potential that emerges when open science experts from academia, industry, and government unite. With this initial rollout, we’re not just launching a course; we’re igniting a movement where learners actively shape the course’s trajectory.”
In its initial form, the Open Science 101 curriculum presents an introduction to the world of open science while also setting the stage for its continued evolution. It introduces learners to definitions, tools, and resources and provides valuable best practices throughout the scientific workflow. All five modules of the course are accessible through an open online platform, where participants can learn at their own pace. In addition to the platform, the modules will also be covered in virtual and in-person instructor-led training sessions.
To further support engagement and knowledge exchange, NASA has forged strategic partnerships with scientific associations, allowing open science to be taught during large annual meetings, special science team summer schools, and other events. These initiatives aim to create a dynamic learning environment where participants can interact with experts, ask questions, and explore the frontiers of open science. The diversity in learning options ensures that participants can choose the mode that best suits their learning style and schedule, optimizing the learning experience.
The Open Science 101 curriculum is accessible to all interested individuals, aligning with NASA’s commitment to inclusivity and promoting equitable access to scientific resources.
To learn more, register for Open Science 101, and begin taking the curriculum, visit:
NASA’s Psyche Delivers First Images and Other Data
5 Min Read
NASA’s Psyche Delivers First Images and Other Data
This mosaic was made from “first light” images acquired Dec. 4 by both of the cameras on NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. The star field lies in the constellation Pisces.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
The mission team has celebrated several successes since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The latest is the operation of the spacecraft’s cameras.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on scientific instruments, streaming data toward home, and setting a deep-space record with its electric thrusters. The latest achievement: On Monday, Dec. 4, the mission turned on Psyche’s twin cameras and retrieved the first images – a milestone called “first light.”
Already 16 million miles (26 million kilometers) from Earth, the spacecraft will arrive at its destination – the asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter – in 2029. The team wanted to test all of the science instruments early in the long journey to make sure they are working as intended, and to ensure there would be plenty of time to calibrate and adjust them as needed.
The imager instrument, which consists of a pair of identical cameras, captured a total of 68 images, all within a star field in the constellation Pisces. The imager team is using the data to verify proper commanding, telemetry analysis, and calibration of the images.
Psyche’s “first light” images make up this mosaic showing a starfield in the constellation Pisces. A version of the mosaic annotated with the names of the stars shown is at bottom.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
“These initial images are only a curtain-opener,” said Arizona State University’s Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead. “For the team that designed and operates this sophisticated instrument, first light is a thrill. We start checking out the cameras with star images like these, then in 2026 we’ll take test images of Mars during the spacecraft’s flyby. And finally, in 2029 we’ll get our most exciting images yet – of our target asteroid Psyche. We look forward to sharing all of these visuals with the public.”
The imager takes pictures through multiple color filters, all of which were tested in these initial observations. With the filters, the team will use photographs in wavelengths of light both visible and invisible to the human eye to help determine the composition of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The imager team will also use the data to create 3D maps of the asteroid to better understand its geology, which will give clues about Psyche’s history.
Solar Surprise
Earlier in the mission, in late October, the team powered on the magnetometer, which will provide crucial data to help determine how the asteroid formed. Evidence that the asteroid once had a magnetic field would be a strong indication that the body is a partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet. The information could help us better understand how our own planet formed.
Shortly after being powered on, the magnetometer gave scientists an unexpected gift: It detected a solar eruption, a common occurrence called a coronal mass ejection, where the Sun expels large quantities of magnetized plasma. Since then, the team has seen several of these events and will continue to monitor space weather as the spacecraft travels to the asteroid.
The good news is twofold. Data collected so far confirms that the magnetometer can precisely detect very small magnetic fields. It also confirms that the spacecraft is magnetically “quiet.” The electrical currents powering a probe of this size and complexity have the potential to generate magnetic fields that could interfere with science detections. Because Earth has its own powerful magnetic field, scientists obtained a much better measurement of the spacecraft magnetic field once it was in space.
In the Zone
On Nov. 8, amid all the work with the science instruments, the team fired up two of the four electric propulsion thrusters, setting a record: the first-ever use of Hall-effect thrusters in deep space. Until now, they’d been used only on spacecraft going as far as lunar orbit. By expelling charged atoms, or ions, of xenon gas, the ultra-efficient thrusters will propel the spacecraft to the asteroid (a 2.2-billion-mile, or 3.6-billion-kilometer journey) and help it maneuver in orbit.
Less than a week later, on Nov. 14, the technology demonstration built into the spacecraft, an experiment called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), set its own record. DSOC achieved first light by sending and receiving optical data from far beyond the Moon. The instrument beamed a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) away – the farthest-ever demonstration of optical communications.
The Psyche team has also successfully powered on the gamma-ray detecting component of its third science instrument, the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. Next, the instrument’s neutron-detecting sensors will be turned on the week of Dec. 11. Together those capabilities will help the team determine the chemical elements that make up the asteroid’s surface material.
More About the Mission
Arizona State University (ASU) leads the Psyche mission. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. ASU leads the operations of the imager instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego on the design, fabrication, and testing of the cameras.
JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.
Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, managed the launch service.
For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:
