NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Top 20 Stories of 2023

Here’s a look back at 2023’s most significant events at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida:

JANUARY
Day of Remembrance Marks 20th Anniversary of Columbia Tragedy 

NASA senior management and guests paid tribute to the crew members of space shuttle Columbia, as well as other astronauts who perished in the line of duty, during the agency’s Annual Day of Remembrance held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.   

JANUARY
Facilities, Spacecraft Prepped for Artemis II Mission 

Teams with Exploration Ground Systems began upgrading and modifying facilities at Kennedy to support Artemis II, paving the way for human exploration to the Moon and Mars. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight of the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.   

FEBRUARY
‘Famous’ Eagles Build New Nest at Kennedy

When storms badly damaged their original nest at the Florida spaceport, a well-known pair of American bald eagles built a new home nearby along Kennedy Parkway, providing a magnificent view of the majestic birds in their natural habitat.   

FEBRUARY
New Orion Test Article Makes a Splash

NASA’s Landing and Recovery team completed a rigorous round of testing on the new mock-up of the agency’s Orion spacecraft. This test article will be used to train NASA, Navy, and other Department of Defense personnel to retrieve astronauts from the Pacific Ocean after splashing down on Artemis Moon missions.   

MARCH
Crew-6 Lights up Florida Early-Morning Sky

A Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft roared off of Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A at 12:34 a.m. EST March 2, kickstarting NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission. The launch carried NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev to the International Space Station for a six-month science expedition mission.  

MARCH
Crew-5 Comes Back to Earth

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina splashed down safely in the SpaceX Dragon Endurance in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, at 9:02 p.m. EST March 11, returning to Earth after 157 days in space.  

MARCH
CRS-27 Launches to the Space Station

At 8:30 p.m. EDT March 14, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rumbled off the pad at Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, starting Dragon’s two-day journey to the International Space Station to deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for Expedition 68 and 69 crews aboard the orbiting laboratory.

MARCH
Swamp Works Celebrates a Decade of Discoveries

In 2023, Swamp Works, which drew its inspiration from Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works in California, celebrated 10 years. The facility is devoted to innovation and leveraging skills and capabilities across the center, focusing on granular mechanics and regolith operations, applied chemistry, electrostatics and surface physics, advanced materials and systems, applied physics, and corrosion technology.  

MAY
Astronauts Complete Second All-Private Mission

Four private astronauts completed a successful Axiom Mission 2, the second all-private astronaut mission to the space station. Axiom Space astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi spent 10 days on the orbiting laboratory after lifting off at 5:37 p.m. EDT on May 21 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

JUNE
Solar Arrays Delivered on CRS-28

Several thousand pounds of important research, crew supplies and hardware, including new solar arrays, were delivered to the space station following the June 5 launch of SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply services mission for NASA from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.  

JULY
Artemis Crews Get New Ride to the Pad

Teams from manufacturer Canoo Technologies Inc. of Torrance, California, delivered three specially designed, fully electric, environmentally friendly crew transportation vehicles to Kennedy on July 11. The vehicles will take Artemis crews on the final Earth-bound leg of their journey to the Moon before boarding their rocket and spacecraft.  

AUGUST
Crew-7 Carries International Crew to Space Station   

A Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket, carrying NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov to the space station on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission. Liftoff occurred at 3:27 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 26.  

AUGUST
Artemis II Crew Meets Their Ride Around the Moon 

Inside the high bay of Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen visited the Orion spacecraft that will take them on a 10-day journey around the Moon as the first Artemis crew.  

SEPTEMBER
Crew-6 Completes Six-Month Mission  

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, along with UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev splashed down safely in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, at 12:17 a.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 24, after 186 days in space.  

SEPTEMBER
Artemis II Astronauts Conduct Launch-Day Demonstration 

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, practiced the procedures they will undergo on launch day to prepare for their mission around the Moon. The Artemis II crew and teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program successfully completed the critical ground system tests at Kennedy on Sept. 20. 

OCTOBER
Psyche Launches to a Metal Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft began its six-year voyage to an asteroid of the same name, a metal-rich world that could tell us more about the formation of rocky planets, after successfully launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy on Oct. 13.

OCTOBER
Progress Continues Toward NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight to Station 

NASA and Boeing are working to complete the agency’s verification and validation activities ahead of the Starliner spacecraft’s first flight with astronauts to the International Space Station. While Boeing is targeting March 2024 to have the spacecraft ready for flight, teams decided during a launch manifest evaluation that a launch in April will better accommodate upcoming crew rotations and cargo resupply missions this spring.  

OCTOBER
Sea Turtle Nests Set Kennedy Record  

A record number of sea turtle nests were built on the undisturbed beaches of the Florida spaceport in 2023. Biologists counted 13,935 sea turtle nests along Kennedy’s shoreline during the 2023 nesting season, 639 more nests than 2022 and the most found on center in a single year since record-keeping began in 1984.  

NOVEMBER
NASA, SpaceX Launch New Science, Hardware to Space Station 

Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 29th commercial resupply mission from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A, scientific experiments and technology demonstrations – including studies of enhanced optical communications and measurement of atmospheric waves – were delivered to the space station.  

DECEMBER
Kennedy Celebrates 25 Years of International Space Station Science

NASA Kennedy marked a quarter of a century of assembling and processing components and science missions for the International Space Station. In December 1998, the Unity module of the International Space Station was carried to orbit on STS-88 from Kennedy, helping kick off a 25-year legacy that includes over 3700 science investigations conducted to date on the orbiting laboratory by 273 people from 21 countries.   

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Jim Cawley

NASA: Some Icy Exoplanets May Have Habitable Oceans and Geysers

A NASA study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could occasionally erupt through the ice crust as geysers. The science team calculated the amount of geyser activity on these exoplanets, the first time these estimates have been made. They identified two exoplanets sufficiently close where signs of these eruptions could be observed with telescopes.

The search for life elsewhere in the Universe typically focuses on exoplanets that are in a star’s “habitable zone,” a distance where temperatures allow liquid water to persist on their surfaces. However, it’s possible for an exoplanet that’s too distant and cold to still have an ocean underneath an ice crust if it has enough internal heating. Such is the case in our solar system where Europa, a moon of Jupiter, and Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, have subsurface oceans because they are heated by tides from the gravitational pull of the host planet and neighboring moons.

These subsurface oceans could harbor life if they have other necessities, such as an energy supply as well as elements and compounds used in biological molecules. On Earth, entire ecosystems thrive in complete darkness at the bottom of oceans near hydrothermal vents, which provide energy and nutrients.

“Our analyses predict that these 17 worlds may have ice-covered surfaces but receive enough internal heating from the decay of radioactive elements and tidal forces from their host stars to maintain internal oceans,” said Dr. Lynnae Quick of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Thanks to the amount of internal heating they experience, all planets in our study could also exhibit cryovolcanic eruptions in the form of geyser-like plumes.” Quick is lead author of a paper on the research published on October 4 in the Astrophysical Journal.

The team considered conditions on 17 confirmed exoplanets that are roughly Earth-sized but less dense, suggesting that they could have substantial amounts of ice and water instead of denser rock. Although the planets’ exact compositions remain unknown, initial estimates of their surface temperatures from previous studies all indicate that they are much colder than Earth, suggesting that their surfaces could be covered in ice.

The study improved estimates of each exoplanet’s surface temperature by recalculating using the known surface brightness and other properties of Europa and Enceladus as models. The team also estimated the total internal heating in these exoplanets by using the shape of each exoplanet’s orbit to get the heat generated from tides and adding it to the heat expected from radioactive activity. Surface temperature and total heating estimates gave the ice layer thickness for each exoplanet since the oceans cool and freeze at the surface while being heated from the interior. Finally, they compared these figures to Europa’s and used estimated levels of geyser activity on Europa as a conservative baseline to estimate geyser activity on the exoplanets.

They predict that surface temperatures are colder than previous estimates by up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius). Estimated ice shell thickness ranged from about 190 feet (58 meters) for Proxima Centauri b and one mile (1.6 kilometers) for LHS 1140 b to 24 miles (38.6 kilometers) for MOA 2007 BLG 192Lb, compared to Europa’s estimated average of 18 miles (almost 29 kilometers). Estimated geyser activity went from just 17.6 pounds per second (about 8 kilograms/second) for Kepler 441b to 639,640 pounds/second (290,000 kilograms/second) for LHS 1140 b and 13.2 million pounds/second (six million kilograms/second) for Proxima Centauri b, compared to Europa at 4,400 pounds/second (2,000 kilograms/second).

“Since our models predict that oceans could be found relatively close to the surfaces of Proxima Centauri b and LHS 1140 b, and their rate of geyser activity could exceed Europa’s by hundreds to thousands of times, telescopes are most likely to detect geological activity on these planets,” said Quick, who is presenting this research December 12 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, California.

This activity could be seen when the exoplanet passes in front of its star. Certain colors of starlight could be dimmed or blocked by water vapor from the geysers. “Sporadic detections of water vapor in which the amount of water vapor detected varies with time, would suggest the presence of cryovolcanic eruptions,” said Quick. The water might contain other elements and compounds that could reveal if it can support life. Since elements and compounds absorb light at specific “signature” colors, analysis of the starlight would let scientists determine the geyser’s composition and evaluate the exoplanet’s habitability potential.

For planets like Proxima Centauri b that don’t cross their stars from our vantage point, geyser activity could be detected by powerful telescopes that are able to measure light that the exoplanet reflects while orbiting its star. Geysers would expel icy particles at the exoplanet’s surface which would cause the exoplanet to appear very bright and reflective.

The research was funded by NASA’s Habitable Worlds Program, the University of Washington’s Astrobiology Program, and the Virtual Planetary Laboratory, a member of the NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science coordination group.

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake

Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way.

Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake that filled Jezero Crater billions of years ago. The six-wheeled scientist has to date collected a total of 23 samples, revealing the geologic history of this region of Mars in the process.

One sample called “Lefroy Bay” contains a large quantity of fine-grained silica, a material known to preserve ancient fossils on Earth. Another, “Otis Peak,” holds a significant amount of phosphate, which is often associated with life as we know it. Both of these samples are also rich in carbonate, which can preserve a record of the environmental conditions from when the rock was formed.

The discoveries were shared Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in San Francisco.

“We picked Jezero Crater as a landing site because orbital imagery showed a delta – clear evidence that a large lake once filled the crater. A lake is a potentially habitable environment, and delta rocks are a great environment for entombing signs of ancient life as fossils in the geologic record,” said Perseverance’s project scientist, Ken Farley of Caltech. “After thorough exploration, we’ve pieced together the crater’s geologic history, charting its lake and river phase from beginning to end.”

Jezero formed from an asteroid impact almost 4 billion years ago. After Perseverance landed in February 2021, the mission team discovered the crater floor is made of igneous rock formed from magma underground or from volcanic activity at the surface. They have since found sandstone and mudstone, signaling the arrival of the first river in the crater hundreds of millions of years later. Above these rocks are salt-rich mudstones, signaling the presence of a shallow lake experiencing evaporation. The team thinks the lake eventually grew as wide as 22 miles (35 kilometers) in diameter and as deep as 100 feet (30 meters).

Later, fast-flowing water carried in boulders from outside Jezero, distributing them atop of the delta and elsewhere in the crater.

“We were able to see a broad outline of these chapters in Jezero’s history in orbital images, but it required getting up close with Perseverance to really understand the timeline in detail,” said Libby Ives, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission.

Enticing Samples

The samples Perseverance gathers are about as big as a piece of classroom chalk and are stored in special metal tubes as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign, a joint effort by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). Bringing the tubes to Earth would enable scientists to study the samples with powerful lab equipment too large to take to Mars.

To decide which samples to collect, Perseverance first uses an abrasion tool to wear away a patch of a prospective rock and then studies the rock’s chemistry using precision science instruments, including the JPL-built Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, or PIXL.

At a target the team calls “Bills Bay,” PIXL spotted carbonates – minerals that form in watery environments with conditions that might be favorable for preserving organic molecules. (Organic molecules form by both geological and biological processes.) These rocks were also abundant with silica, a material that’s excellent at preserving organic molecules, including those related to life.

“On Earth, this fine-grained silica is what you often find in a location that was once sandy,” said JPL’s Morgan Cable, the deputy principal investigator of PIXL. “It’s the kind of environment where, on Earth, the remains of ancient life could be preserved and found later.”

Perseverance’s instruments are capable of detecting both microscopic, fossil-like structures and chemical changes that may have been left by ancient microbes, but they have yet to see evidence for either.

At another target PIXL examined, called “Ouzel Falls,” the instrument detected the presence of iron associated with phosphate. Phosphate is a component of DNA and the cell membranes of all known terrestrial life and is part of a molecule that helps cells carry energy.

After assessing PIXL’s findings on each of these abrasion patches, the team sent up commands for the rover to collect rock cores close by: Lefroy Bay was collected next to Bills Bay, and Otis Peak at Ouzel Falls.

“We have ideal conditions for finding signs of ancient life where we find carbonates and phosphates, which point to a watery, habitable environment, as well as silica, which is great at preservation,” Cable said.

Perseverance’s work is, of course, far from done. The mission’s ongoing fourth science campaign will explore Jezero Crater’s margin, near the canyon entrance where a river once flooded the crater floor. Rich carbonate deposits have been spotted along the margin, which stands out in orbital images like a ring within a bathtub.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for 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 (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), 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 missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

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

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

News Media Contacts

Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

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Webb Sheds Light on an Exploded Star

Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) shines in a new image from Dec. 10, 2023, from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) view of Cas A displays this stellar explosion at a resolution previously unreachable at these wavelengths, revealing intricate details of the expanding shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star before it exploded.

Cas A is one of the most well-studied supernova remnants in all the cosmos. Over the years, ground-based and space-based observatories, including NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and retired Spitzer Space Telescope have assembled a multiwavelength picture of the object’s remnant.

However, astronomers have now entered a new era in the study of Cas A. In April 2023, Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) started this chapter, unveiling new and unexpected features within the inner shell of the supernova remnant. Many of those features are invisible in the new NIRCam image, and astronomers are investigating why.

Read on to find out what we can learn from this new image of Cassiopeia A.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (University of Gent)

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Monika Luabeya

Breaking Records, Returning Asteroid Samples Among NASA’s Big 2023

In 2023, as NASA pushed the limits of exploration for the benefit of humanity, the agency celebrated astronaut Frank Rubio becoming the first American astronaut to spend more than one year in space; delivered samples from an asteroid to Earth; sent a spacecraft to study a metal-rich asteroid for the first time; launched multiple initiatives to share climate data; advanced developments in sustainable aircraft; all while continuing preparations to send the first Artemis astronauts to the Moon.

“This year, NASA continued to make the impossible, possible while sharing our story of discovery with the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “We’ve launched missions that are helping tell the oldest stories of our solar system; continued to safely transport astronauts to the International Space Station to conduct groundbreaking science; our Earth satellites are providing critical climate data to all people; we’re making great strides to make aviation more dependable and sustainable; and we’re growing our commercial and international partnerships as we venture back to the Moon and on to Mars. NASA is home to the world’s finest workforce, and there is no limit to what we can achieve when we work together.”

In support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to address climate change, NASA is leading the development of U.S. government-wide initiatives focused on bringing Earth science information to the public. The Earth Information Center, a new interactive exhibit at NASA Headquarters in Washington, also includes an online experience that invites visitors to see Earth as NASA sees it from space while providing critical data needed by researchers and policymakers.

Among other notable mentions, the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope – the largest, most powerful telescope humanity has ever put in space – celebrated one year of science. NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced the two organizations will partner on DRACO (Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations) to test a nuclear-powered rocket in space as soon as 2027.

This year NASA celebrated 25 years of International Space Station operations as the agency continued to foster the growth of the commercial space economy, supporting the development of commercial space station partnerships. It also marks the 65th anniversary of the agency. While celebrating these achievements, NASA also unveiled its NASA 2040 vision for the agency to ensure it remains a global leader in aerospace for decades to come.

Below are additional highlights of NASA’s endeavors in 2023 to explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery.

Understanding Our Changing Planet

NASA has used its unique vantage point of space to better understand our changing planet since launching its first Earth science satellites in the 1960s. In 2023, NASA’s Office of the Chief Scientist established a cross-agency working group and released a climate strategy. Other agency efforts to share scientific data on Earth.gov and other areas include:

• Working with its partners, NASA launched the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center, opening access to trusted data on greenhouse gases.
  • Data from NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument aboard the International Space Station is part of the gas center. EMIT identifies point-source emissions of greenhouse gases with a proficiency greater than expected.
• NASA’s tracking of greenhouse gases includes both global and focused estimates.
• Building on the month-by-month worldwide temperature data collected and released by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both agencies are expected to announce soon 2023 was the warmest year in recorded history.
• A NASA airborne campaign helped show that methane ‘hot spots’ in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are more likely to be found where recent wildfires burned into the tundra, altering carbon emissions from the land.
• After successfully launching to space earlier this year, NASA’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) mission to study air quality now is successfully transmitting information about major air pollutants over North America.
• NASA’s SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) mission offered the its first detailed perspectives of Earth’s surface water.
• Among natural hazards, NASA data was put to use in monitoring the heavy rains occurring in the drought-stricken areas, heat waves, wildfires, and subsequent health affects worldwide, as well as expansion of NASA landslide data.

Advancing Moon to Mars Exploration

This year, NASA shared results of its first Moon to Mars Architecture Concept Review as it builds a blueprint for human exploration throughout the solar system for the benefit of humanity. The agency also continues to take significant steps toward landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon as part of Artemis. Notably in 2023, NASA announced crew for the Artemis II mission, the first Artemis mission with astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth. The crew completed fundamentals training, and is now focusing on training for mission operations. Additional highlights for human deep space exploration include:

• All major elements for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis II are complete or nearing completion including booster segments delivered to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and final core state assembly testing at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
• Upgrades and refurbishments continue at Kennedy with the mobile launcher and launch pad, including a water flow test and launch operations simulation.
• NASA made progress on Artemis III, which will send the first humans to explore the region near the lunar South Pole, building on the previous flight tests and adding a human landing system and advanced spacesuits for moonwalks.
• The solid rocket booster segments and the four RS-25 engines are complete for the Artemis III SLS, as well as three of the five major core stage elements. Teams are integrating elements of Orion’s crew module, and the European Service Module.
• NASA selected the geology team to develop a lunar surface science plan for Artemis III.  
• Beyond Artemis III, teams completed welding the primary structure for Gateway’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost), where astronauts will live and work in lunar orbit. Fabrication is complete on the primary structure of the Power and Propulsion Element that will provide power, communications, and maintain Gateway’s orbit.
• In addition to other hardware assembly and certification work for later missions, Artemis V will include a lunar terrain vehicle. NASA asked SpaceX to further develop Starship for Artemis IV, and also selected Blue Origin to develop a human lunar lander for Artemis V.
• Experiments aboard the International Space Station focused on helping astronauts go farther and stay longer in space. This research included growing sustainable crops such as dwarf tomatoes, understanding how microbes adapt to space to protect crew health, and developing innovative materials that can weather the harsh environments of the Moon and Mars.

To support future NASA Moon missions with crew, the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative is in the final phases of preparations for the first two launches and landings to deliver NASA science and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface.

• Five NASA payloads are aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission 1 lander, which is set to launch no earlier than Monday, Jan. 8. Soon after, another six NASA payloads will launch no earlier than Friday, Jan. 12, aboard Intuitive Machine’s Nova-C spacecraft.
• Since launching CLPS, NASA has contracted with five companies for eight deliveries to the lunar surface. Most recently in 2023, NASA selected Firefly Aerospace for a delivery.
• Among future CLPS payloads is NASA’s first robotic lunar rover, VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. The rover will trek into permanently shadowed areas to unravel the mysteries of the Moon’s water and better understand the environment. In preparation for a landing in late 2024, scientists named VIPER’s mission area in honor of NASA mathematician Melba Roy Mouton. Development, assembly and testing also continues for the rover’s solar and battery systems.

While NASA is leading Artemis, international partnerships are a key part of advancing Moon to Mars exploration. In 2023, 10 additional countries signed the Artemis Accords, which lay out a common set of principles governing the civil exploration and use of outer space. So far, 33 countries have signed the Artemis Accords.

Maintaining Low Earth Orbit Operations

Closer to Earth, the International Space Station – humanity’s home in space – passed 25 years of operations. NASA and its partners officially extended operations plans for the microgravity science laboratory for the benefit of humanity. Other space station milestones in 2023 include:

• NASA and SpaceX continued regular crew rotation flights to and from station, helping maximize science in space, including:
  • NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, Loral O’Hara, and Jasmin Moghbeli lived and worked aboard the station.
  • Rubio spent a U.S. record-breaking 371 days in space, contributing to a better understanding of long-duration spaceflight as we explore beyond our home planet.
  • Crew-5 returned to Earth with Mann and Cassada, as well as JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina. Crew members tested hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without using soil, released Uganda and Zimbabwe’s first satellites, studied how liquids move in a container in simulated lunar gravity to generate data to improve Moon rover designs, and reinstalled the station’s bioprinting facility.
  • Crew-6 included Bowen and Hoburg, as well as UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The crew assisted a student robotic challenge, studying plant genetic adaptations to space, and monitoring human health in microgravity. The crew also released Saskatchewan’s first satellite, which tests a new radiation detection and protection system.
  • Crew-7 carried Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. This crew is conducting a variety of scientific research in areas such the collection of microbial samples from the exterior of the space station, the first study of human response to different spaceflight durations, and a study on astronaut’s sleep.
• NASA and Boeing continued to make progress on the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Starliner and its crew of NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams are preparing for the first flight with astronauts in 2024, the final demonstration prior to regular flights to the microgravity complex.
• Space station crew members completed 12 spacewalks to upgrade and conduct maintenance at the orbiting laboratory before the year’s end. NASA astronauts continued work to install the International Space Station Rollout Solar Arrays (IROSA), which will increase power generation capability by up to 30% when fully complete.
• Six commercial cargo missions and international partner missions delivered about 28,000 pounds of science investigations, tools, and critical supplies to the space station. By year’s end about 12,500 pounds of investigations and equipment are planned to be returned researchers on Earth.
• Space station crew members welcomed the second NASA-enabled private astronaut mission, Axiom Mission 2, to the orbital complex advancing the agency’s goal of commercializing low-Earth orbit. NASA also selected Axiom Space for the third private astronaut mission and signed an order for the fourth mission with the company.

Some additional key investigations launched, and operating, on station included NASA and ISS National Lab releasing a joint solicitation to address the goals of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, which aims to conduct science in space to help cure disease on Earth; NASA’s ILLUMA-T (Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low-Earth-Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal) is now on station, which aims to test high data rate laser communications via the agency’s LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration); upgraded NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory to continue pioneering quantum discovery in space; and launched and installed its Atmospheric Wave Experiment on station to provide insight into how terrestrial weather impacts space weather, which may affect satellite communications and tracking in orbit.

Also on the commercial front, NASA partnered with seven U.S. companies with unfunded Space Act Agreements, and released its third Request for Information for commercials space station services, while working toward a formal call for proposals to provide the agency with low Earth orbit services after the space station’s retirement. Commercial space station partners met major design and engineering milestones, and are on track to serve as potential replacements for the agency’s microgravity research needs. Two companies also are combining efforts, which will allow NASA to apply funding to the other stations to accelerate development.

Reaching Farther into Solar System, Beyond

As part of its first year of operations, NASA’s Webb telescope pulled back the curtain on some of the farthest galaxies, stars, and black holes ever observed; solved a longstanding mystery about the early universe; found methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system; and offered new views and insights into our own cosmic backyard. Additional achievements beyond the solar system included:

• NASA made important contributions to two missions that international partners launched this year: ESA’s Euclid mission to study dark energy and dark matter, as well as JAXA’s XRISM mission, a powerful new satellite that will revolutionize how we understand the hot, X-ray universe.
• The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next flagship observatory, finished camera assembly, and its coronagraph instrument passed its first big optics test.

Autumn was host to mission milestone events that showcased the importance of our solar system’s smaller bodies.

• NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft capped its seven-year journey with the successful deposit of a pristine sample of surface material from the asteroid Bennu in the Utah desert.
• NASA showed off material from the asteroid Bennu for the first time. Initial studies of the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu sample collected in space and brought to Earth show evidence of high-carbon content and water, which together could indicate the building blocks of life on Earth may be found in the rock.
• The Psyche spacecraft launched from NASA Kennedy toward the asteroid Psyche.
• NASA’s Lucy spacecraft conducted its first target asteroid flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh at the inner edge of the main asteroid belt, and the first images now are online.
• An annular eclipse occurred on Oct. 14, visible in parts of the United States, Mexico, and many countries in South and Central America. NASA supported the event with engagement activities, as well as science research. Three Black Brant IX sounding rockets were launched to study the ionosphere – an electrically charged layer of the atmosphere – before, during, and after the peak eclipse.

NASA also kicked off Heliophysics Big Year, a public engagement campaign to make science and information accessible to all and showcase heliophysics-related efforts.

Technology Innovations to Benefit All

NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment launched aboard the Psyche spacecraft and achieved first light, beaming back a laser encoded with test data from nearly 10 million miles away. NASA will demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than current radio frequency systems. The following are additional space technology advancements:

• Partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne for qualification testing on the Advanced Electric Propulsion System, a cutting-edge solar electric propulsion thruster that will propel Gateway.
• NASA provided two navigation systems to Astrobotic for use on its CLPS flight: a Navigation Doppler Lidar to provide enhanced guidance and navigation capabilities, and the Terrain Relative Navigation to increase landing accuracy and help avoid hazards near the surface.
• NASA selected 11 U.S. companies to develop technologies in support of long-term space exploration. The agency also selected 12 companies to use subject matter expertise and facilities to advance capabilities related to NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives.
• Launched the Starling swarm of small satellites to prove the agency’s ability to coordinate and cooperate satellites without real-time input from mission control.
• Tested multiple additively manufactured rocket engine nozzle designs, including on the ground, as well and aboard Relativity Space’s Terran-1 rocket.
• Finished MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) operations, and proved it is possible to extract oxygen from Mars.

Evolving Aviation’s Frontier

In 2023, NASA advanced aviation and aeronautics technologies to improve passenger experiences, stimulate U.S. economic growth, and create a future of cleaner, quieter, safer skies. Through its Sustainable Flight National Partnership and other efforts, NASA supported the U.S. goal of reaching net-zero aviation greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and the agency released a new strategic implementation plan to guide research for the next 20 years and beyond. NASA also:

• Made new progress in its Quesst mission, as the X-59 quiet supersonic experimental aircraft had its tail structure installed and was moved from the assembly facility for structural testing.
• Worked with Boeing on the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project to produce and test the X-66A, a full-sized, experimental transonic truss brace wing aircraft that will inform a new generation of sustainable airliners.
• Enhanced transonic truss braced wing research for sustainable aircraft designs using wind tunnel tests for model wings and supercomputing to look at aircraft concepts.
• Used NASA’s DC-8 flying lab to test emissions from Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator Explorer aircraft to evaluate sustainable aviation fuels’ effects on contrails..
• Progressed its Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, which works to create hybrid powertrains for regional and single-aisle aircraft, with GE Aerospace and magniX testing power systems and demonstrator aircraft
• Entered into an agreement with the U.S. Air Force AFWERX Agility Prime program that will allow NASA to test a new air taxi from the manufacturer Joby Aviation to see how such vehicles could fit into the national airspace
• Debuted the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations project, which uses drones and advanced aviation technologies to improve wildland fire coordination and operations, and tested a mobile air traffic management kit.
• Demonstrated a breakthrough, 3D-printable, high-temperature-resistant alloy called GRX-810 that could be used for applications like components of aircraft and rocket engines.

Aeronautics efforts led to advancements in construction of the Flight Dynamics Research Facility, the agency’s first major wind tunnel in more than 40 years. NASA used simulators to collect data on how operating electric air taxis could affect pilots and passengers, and gathered data on new ways to use aviation including autonomous air cargo delivery and air taxi operations. Finally, research from the X-57 Maxwell provided aviation researchers with hundreds of lessons learned, as well as revolutionary development in areas ranging from battery technology to cruise motor control design.

Maintaining Focus on Advancing DEIA, Reaching Diverse Communities

NASA remained committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) at NASA and the STEM industry in 2023. NASA also took its “The Color of Space” documentary on a road tour, providing free in-person screenings at historically Black colleges and universities, conferences, and festivals nationwide. And, the agency made its Spot the Station app available for download in multiple languages.  

As part of its plans to reach more audiences, NASA continued to focus on developing Spanish-language content. This year, the agency digitally released its second issue of the “First Woman: Expanding Our Universe,” graphic novel series in English and Spanish. NASA also:

• Launched its first full season of the Spanish-language podcast Universo curioso de la NASA.
• Following Rubio’s record-breaking year in space, NASA conducted news conferences in English and Spanish upon his return. Rubio also hosted the first tour of the space station in Spanish.
• Produced a live broadcast in Spanish for the arrival of the OSIRIS-REx samples, as well as co-streamed another broadcast in Spanish for the annular eclipse produced by the NASA-funded Exploratorium Museum.
• Revamped its Spanish-language science website, and launched a hub for all Spanish content on the new NASA.gov site.
• With the launch of NASA’s streaming platform NASA+, the agency debuted Spanish content also available for streaming, and developed Spanish-language content for Europa Clipper’s Message in a Bottle, among other activities.

Inspiring New Generation of STEM Students

Through a variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach activities, NASA continues to inspire the Artemis Generation of students and encourage them to become the next scientists, engineers, and astronauts. NASA conducts its STEM work through partnering with key organizations, awarding a variety of grants, and more. Many of these efforts tie closely to NASA’s DEIA activities. Other STEM highlights in 2023 include:

• Awarded $11.7 million to eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities through the new Data Science Equity, Access, and Priority in Research and Education opportunity. These awards will enable students and faculty to conduct innovative data science research that contributes to NASA’s missions.
• Partnered with the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen the collaboration between the two agencies, including efforts to increase access to high-quality STEM and space education to students and schools across the nation; and partnered with U.S. Forest Service to bring Artemis Moon Trees to schools and education institutions through NASA’s Artifact Module. NASA received more than 1,200 requests.
• NASA announced its first women’s universities and college awards, as part of a Biden-Harris Administration initiative. The awards provided more than $5 million in funding to seven women’s colleges and universities to research and develop strategies that increase retention of women in STEM degree programs and careers.
• Among Earth to space calls, Louisiana, Wyoming and Rhode Island hosted their first downlinks with the space station crew and students.
• NASA’s Human Rover Exploration Challenge hosted student competitors in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 500 students from around the world participated.
• Issued the NASA Space Tech Catalyst Prize to expand the agency’s network of proposers and foster effective engagement approaches within NASA’s Early-Stage Innovations and Partnerships portfolio.
• Invited teams to participate in NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge to design, build, and launch science and technology experiments on commercial suborbital rockets and high-altitude balloons. Summer 2023 marked a series of flight tests that successfully flew 80 student payloads on high-altitude balloons with Aerostar and World View.
• By partnering with Minecraft to inspire students in a game-based learning platform, children were encouraged to build and launch rockets on Moon adventures in the Minecraft universe.
• NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants program, which supports academic researchers, surpassed a significant milestone, having funded more than 1,000 grants pursuing exciting space technology research since.

NASA’s Growing Public Engagement Efforts

Public Engagement remains a cornerstone of NASA’s mission to share the agency’s work with the world by participating in opportunities to engage the public in a variety of venues, activities, and events. NASA continued to connect with more people than ever before:

• Grew the agency’s social media following to 389.5 million so far in 2023 – up 18 percent from 330 million in 2022. 
• Shares on social media posts across the agency reached 6.36 million in 2023, lower than the 2022 total (8.7 million shares).
• NASA accounts reached follower milestones this year, passing 78 million (X), 26 million (Facebook) and 97 million (Instagram). NASA’s flagship YouTube channel passed 11 million. 
• NASA elevated its digital platforms by revamping its flagship and science websites, adding its first on-demand streaming service, and upgrading the NASA app. With these changes, everyone now has access to a new world of content from the space agency.
• NASA’s new streaming service, NASA+, launched on Nov. 8, and as of Nov. 28 had 38,000 hours of content watched. The NASA app had about 34 million lifetime installs across all platforms.
• Apple Podcasts Latin America selected “Universo Curioso de la NASA” as a “Show We Loved” in 2023. This is the first time a NASA podcast has received this recognition.  
• NASA podcasts surpassed 8 million all-time plays on Apple Podcasts this year.
• Supported White House events to reach the public in new and engaging ways including participating in the White House Easter Egg Roll, bringing in astronauts and STEM activities we engaged over 30,000 visitors, including students and children, with more than 148,000 mentions on social media across all platforms, as well as participating in Halloween at the White House engaging 6,000 local schoolchildren and military families with STEM activities.
• Worked with Elmo to introduce a video greeting from NASA astronauts aboard the space station for the Independence Day celebration and concert.
• NASA centers around the country hosted more than 1,289 in-person and virtual events with local, regional, national, and international reach, and engaged with more than 6.3 million people through these efforts.
• Participated in one of the largest state fairs in the United States in Columbus, Ohio, reaching an estimated 100,000 of the one million attendees through talks.
• Hosted an in-person International Observe the Moon Night, an annual celebration of lunar science and exploration, for the first time since 2019.
• NASA’s Arts program curated the first exhibition of work from the NASA art collection titled “Launching the Future: Looking Back to Look Forward” and displayed 16 pieces at the National Academy of Sciences.
• Since opening its doors, NASA’s Earth Information Center has received more 3,400 visitors and hosting more than 1,500 guided tours.
• More than 100 eligible schools, universities, museums, libraries, and planetariums applied to participate in the NASA Artifacts Module program to receive more than 200 historic NASA objects for their STEM programs.
• NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was among the participants for “Our Blue Planet, A Concert Celebrating Earth, and its Waters.”
• Snoopy’s zero-gravity indicator rode on NASA’s Artemis I mission and was returned to Peanuts, and now is on public display at the Schulz Museum.
• NASA partnered with Google Arts & Culture on a digital artist project titled ‘A Passage of Water’ that incorporated NASA freshwater data from the SWOT mission and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellites.
• NASA partnered with Crayola Education for its 2023 Creativity Week, reaching 3.5 million kids with Artemis information and creative activities.
• The U.S. Postal Service issued an OSIRIS-REx postal stamp in association with the return of the asteroid Bennu sample in September.
• NASA approved and collaborated on 96 documentaries, 21 TV, Web and streaming shows, 16 feature films, and five immersive experiences, including the Tom Hanks’ new immersive experience “Moonwalkers” and ARTCHOUSE’s “Beyond the Light,” and an upcoming collaboration with influencer, “Mr. Beast.”
• NASA received 4,500 requests for NASA branded merchandise and/or novelty items from notable brands like Adidas, Garmin, Wham-O, LEGO, Prada, Crate + Barrel, Pottery Barn Kids, Odyssey Toys, H+M, Casio Electronics, Smithsonian, GAP, Round 2, Timex, Sprayground and many more.
• Published its branding guidelines as part of the NASA Brand Center.
• Collaborated with Amazon Studios on the “A Million Miles Away” film, starring Michael Peña, telling the story of retired NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez. Rubio narrated a special video from space highlighting Hernandez and other Latino pioneers for Hispanic Heritage Month.
• Celebrated designer Richard Danne with an agency Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for his outstanding achievement in creating the NASA worm logotype.
• Collaborated on more than a dozen Artemis documentaries with outlets ranging from PBS to National Geographic/Disney. The Artemis II crew was featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Talk, and at the “Guardians of the Galaxy” premiere. Artemis II NASA astronaut Victor Glover participated in the premieres of National Geographic’s “The Space Race” at the Tribeca Film Festival and DC/Dox. 
• Attracted major talent for various mission-related projects and outreach initiatives, including: Chris Pratt, Harry Styles, Lance Bass for the Annular Solar Eclipse, Aisha Tyler, Adam Driver, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Schwartzmann, and an International Space Station downlink with Post Malone for Earth Day. 
• NASA also participated in concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for Earth Day and Wolf Trap for “Star Wars” and Holst’s “The Planets.” 
• Feature films included “A Million Miles Away” and Disney’s “The Marvels” were uploaded to the International Space Station for the astronauts to enjoy at their leisure.
• More than 1 million people around the world joined NASA’s Message in a Bottle campaign, inviting people to sign their names to a special message that will travel 1.8 billion miles on the agency’s Europa Clipper mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The message, a poem titled “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, will be engraved on the robotic spacecraft.

For more about NASA’s missions, research, and discoveries, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Faith McKie / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov

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Claire A. O’Shea