Dr. Irene Duhart Long was the first female and the first minority to hold the position of chief medical officer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as the first African American female to serve in the Senior Executive Service at the center. These distinctions were only two of many firsts in her 31-year-long career at NASA.
While she broke barriers in her own life, she also advocated for others to have more opportunities. She helped create the Spaceflight and Life Sciences Training Program at Kennedy, in partnership with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a program that encouraged more women and minority college students to explore careers in science. She also motivated and mentored her coworkers, taking a strong interest in their trajectory at NASA.
“One of the admirable qualities of Irene Long was her inclusion mentality regarding women in the workplace,” Kennedy Employee Assistance Counselor Patricia Bell said. “She was a front runner in advocating for women.” Long helped coordinate an educational women’s forum, focused on health, mental well-being and other topics of interest for women. Long died Aug. 4, 2020, at age 69.
Cassiopeia A, Then the Cosmos: 25 Years of Chandra X-ray Science
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Cassiopeia A, Then the Cosmos: 25 Years of Chandra X-ray Science
By Rick Smith
On Aug. 26, 1999, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory opened its powerful telescopic eye in orbit and captured its awe-inspiring “first light” images of Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant roughly 11,000 light-years from Earth. That first observation was far more detailed than anything seen by previous X-ray telescopes, even revealing – for the first time ever – a neutron star left in the wake of the colossal stellar detonation.
Those revelations came as no surprise to Chandra project scientist Martin Weisskopf, who led Chandra’s development at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “When you build instrumentation that’s 10 times more sensitive than anything that was done before, you’re bound to discover something new and exciting,” he said. “Every step forward was a giant step forward.”
Twenty-five years later, Chandra has repeated that seminal moment of discovery again and again, delivering – to date – nearly 25,000 detailed observations of neutron stars, quasars, supernova remnants, black holes, galaxy clusters, and other highly energetic objects and events, some as far away as 13 billion light-years from Earth.
Chandra has further helped scientists gain tangible evidence of dark matter and dark energy, documented the first electromagnetic events tied to gravitational waves in space, and most recently aided the search for habitable exoplanets – all vital tools for understanding the vast, interrelated mechanisms of the universe we live in.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has observed Cassiopeia A for more than 2 million total seconds since its “first light ” images of the supernova remnant on Aug. 26, 1999. Cas A is some 11,000 light-years from Earth. Chandra X-rays are depicted in blue and composited with infrared images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in orange and white.
Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/D. Milisavljevic (Purdue Univ.), I. De Looze (University of Ghent), T. Temim (Princeton Univ.); Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, K. Arcand, and J. Major
“Chandra’s first image of Cas A provided stunning demonstration of Chandra’s exquisite X-ray mirrors, but it simultaneously revealed things we had not known about young supernova remnants,” said Pat Slane, director of the CXC (Chandra X-ray Center) housed at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “In a blink, Chandra not only revealed the neutron star in Cas A; it also taught us that young neutron stars can be significantly more modest in their output than what previously had been understood. Throughout its 25 years in space, Chandra has deepened our understanding of fundamental astrophysics, while also greatly broadening our view of the universe.”
Chandra often is used in conjunction with other space telescopes that observe the cosmos in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and with other high-energy missions such as ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton; NASA’s Swift, NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), and IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) imagers, and NASA’s NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray observatory, which studies high-energy phenomena from its vantage point aboard the International Space Station.
Chandra remains a unique, global science resource, with a robust data archive that will continue to serve the science community for many years.
“NASA’s project science team has always strived to conduct Chandra science as equitably as possible by having the world science community collectively decide how best to use the observatory’s many tremendous capabilities,” said Douglas Swartz, a USRA (Universities Space Research Association) principal research scientist on the Chandra project science team.
These images were released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Chandra. They represent the wide range of objects that the telescope has observed over its quarter century of observations. X-rays are an especially penetrating type of light that reveals extremely hot objects and very energetic physical processes. The images range from supernova remnants, like Cassiopeia A, to star-formation regions like the Orion Nebula, to the region at the center of the Milky Way. This montage also contains objects beyond our own Galaxy including other galaxies and galaxy clusters.
“Chandra will continue to serve the astrophysics community long after its mission ends,” said Andrew Schnell, acting Chandra program manager at Marshall. “Perhaps its greatest discovery hasn’t been discovered yet. It’s just sitting there in our data archive, waiting for someone to ask the right question and use the data to answer it. It could be somebody who hasn’t even been born yet.”
That archive is impressive indeed. To date, Chandra has delivered more than 70 trillion bytes of raw data. More than 5,000 unique principal investigators and some 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students around the world have conducted research based on Chandra’s observations. Its findings have helped earn more than 700 PhDs and resulted in more than 11,000 published papers, with half a million total citations.
Weisskopf is now an emeritus researcher who still keeps office hours every weekday despite having retired from NASA in 2022. He said the work remains as stimulating now as it was 25 years ago, waiting breathlessly for those “first light” images.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory data, seen here in violet and white, is joined with that of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue) and Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (purple) to show off the eerie beauty of the Crab Nebula. The nebula is the result of a bright supernova explosion first witnessed and documented in 1054 A.D.
Credits: X-ray: (Chandra) NASA/CXC/SAO, (IXPE) NASA/MSFC; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, K. Arcand, and L. Frattare
“We’re always trying to put ourselves out of business with the next bit of scientific understanding,” he said. “But these amazing discoveries have demonstrated how much NASA’s astrophysics missions still have to teach us.”
The universe keeps turning – and Chandra’s watchful eye endures.
More about Chandra
Chandra, managed for NASA by Marshall in partnership with the CXC, is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope and Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It was first proposed to NASA in 1976 by Riccardo Giacconi, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics based on his contributions to X-ray astronomy, and Harvey Tananbaum, who would later become the first director of the Chandra X-ray Center. Chandra was named in honor of the late Nobel laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his work explaining the structure and evolution of stars.
Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:
NASA, Blue Origin Invite Media to New Glenn Launch of Mars Mission
NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) identical dual spacecraft are inspected and processed on dollies in a high bay of the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Aug. 22. As the first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to Mars, ESCAPADE’s twin orbiters will take simultaneous observations from different locations around the planet and reveal the real-time response to space weather and how the Martian magnetosphere changes over time.
Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA and Blue Origin are preparing for the agency’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission, which begins on the inaugural launch of the company’s New Glenn rocket. The mission will study the solar wind’s interaction with the magnetosphere on Mars.
Blue Origin is targeting no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 13, for the launch of New Glenn-1 from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Media interested in covering ESCAPADE launch activities for both NASA and Blue Origin must apply for media credentials. Deadlines for accreditation are as follows:
U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media must apply by 5 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 30.
International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Media accreditation requests should be submitted online at:
The ESCAPADE mission will use two identical spacecraft to investigate how the solar wind interacts with the hybrid magnetosphere on Mars and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape. The mission is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program. The ESCAPADE mission is led by the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, and the spacecraft is designed by Rocket Lab. The agency’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA Kennedy, secured the launch service under the VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract.
NASA will post updates on launch preparations for the twin Martian orbiters on the ESCAPADE blog.
Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo at: antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov, 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan, 256-930-1371.
NASA Invites Public Input on Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy
A waxing gibbous moon rises over the Indian Ocean as the International Space Station orbited 266 miles above.
Credit: NASA
As NASA and its partners continue to conduct groundbreaking research aboard the International Space Station, the agency announced Monday it is seeking U.S. industry, academia, international partners, and other stakeholders’ feedback on newly developed goals and objectives that will help guide the next generation of human presence in low Earth orbit.
“From the very beginning, NASA’s flagship human spaceflight programs have built upon each other, expanding our knowledge and experience of humans living and working in space,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “As commercial industry is constructing new human-enabled platforms for low Earth orbit, NASA must answer the question: what should our goals and objectives be to advance our future science and exploration missions?”
NASA published draft high-level goals and objectives outlining 42 key points in six main areas: science, exploration-enabling research and technology development, commercial low Earth orbit infrastructure, operations, international cooperation, and workforce and engagement.
“Feedback is essential for shaping our long-term microgravity research and development activities,” said Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are committed to refining our objectives with input from both within NASA and external partners, ensuring alignment with industry and international goals. After reviewing feedback, we will finalize our strategy later this year.”
The agency will conduct two invite-only workshops in September to discuss feedback on the draft goals and objectives. The first workshop is with international partners, and the second will engage U.S. industry and academic representatives.
NASA employees also are invited to provide input through internal agency channels. This approach reflects NASA’s commitment to harnessing diverse perspectives to navigate the rapidly evolving low Earth orbit environment.
“Organizations are increasingly recognizing the transformative benefits of space, with both governments and commercial activities leveraging the International Space Station as a testbed,” said Robyn Gatens, International Space Station director and acting director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters. “By developing a comprehensive strategy, NASA is looking to the next chapter of U.S. human space exploration to help shape the agency’s future in microgravity for the benefit of all.”
Stakeholders may submit comments by close of business on Friday, Sept. 27 to:
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4282 (2024-08-22 23:39:35 UTC).
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 23, 2024
One of the many challenges of operating a rover on another planet is that we don’t always know where we’re going to be located before planning starts each day. Although we do plan our drives in advance, Curiosity doesn’t blindly follow the orders that we deliver. If an unsafe situation is detected, such as if the wheels slip too much in the sand or if the rover tries to drive along too steep of a slope, it will end the drive early and wait for us back on Earth to assess the situation. Although we prefer for the rover to end up parked exactly where we told it to, safety is always the first priority.
Coming into planning today, it looked like it was going to be smooth riding. Before planning began, we received an email from our localization team informing us that Monday’s short drive away from Kings Canyon appeared to have completed successfully, so everyone was ready to start poking around in our new workspace. It wasn’t long before we realized that we were facing a bit of an unusual situation. Although the drive completed, we were missing almost all of our post-drive imaging. When a drive completes, we take a set of Navcam, Mastcam, and Hazcam images of our new location that we then use to determine the targets that we want to perform contact science and remote sensing on and to plan our drives. Without those images, there are very few activities that we can plan. Fortunately, we did receive one Navcam image near our new workspace (which you can see in the cover image above), so the geology and mineralogy (GEO) team had something to work with, though their ability to select targets was still severely limited.
For me, on the environmental science (ENV) team, this was great news. Almost all of our observations are completely untargeted, so we don’t really care where exactly the rover is located. As such, we were given an opportunity to make lemonade out of the lemons that the mission was handed today. In a reversal from our usual roles, GEO planned out their limited set of activities then passed the rest of the science time over to ENV. This was particularly exciting given that, as was noted on Wednesday, we’ve initiated a dust storm watch. The dust storm developing on the other side of Mars is likely the annual “C” storm. The last time a dust storm went global this late in the year was during the Viking era, so we expect that this storm will stay regional rather than becoming global. Still, because global dust storms happen so infrequently, we’ve initiated a storm watch so that we’re ready just in case the unexpected happens.
Although GEO’s activities are limited in this plan, the team did the best with what little data they had available. These activities include ChemCam LIBS and Mastcam observations of “Lembert Dome” (some nodular light-toned bedrock), “Wilts Col” (a dark-toned float block that we got ChemCam passive spectra of back on sol 4259), and “Return Creek” (another float block). We’re also taking ChemCam passive spectra and Mastcam images of a dark-toned float block “Matlock Lake.” In preparation for planning on Monday, we’re also taking a Mastcam survey of the workspace. Because we had to pull our arm activities and the drive we had planned, the CheMin team was also able to fit in an empty cell analysis activity that they had been looking for time to execute.
ENV’s activities are nothing unusual, but they are numerous. We were able to fit in about three-and-a-half hours of dust devil movies over these three sols, as well as about an hour-and-a-half of cloud movies, including some shortly before sunset when we rarely are able to take movies. In addition, we have a handful of Navcam line-of-sight and Mastcam tau observations to monitor the developing dust storm.
In classic just-too-late form, the missing data finally appeared right as we were finalizing the plan. Not of any use to us today (though the views from our new location are as stunning as ever), but we’re set up for a return to normal operations on Monday.
Written by Conor Hayes, Graduate Student at York University
