NASA Invites Media to Attend Louisiana Space Day 2024

NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, several aerospace companies, and GNO Inc. will host Louisiana Space Day 2024 at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, May 8.

Media are invited to attend and should contact Craig Betbeze at craig.c.betbeze@nasa.gov or 504-419-5333 by 2 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, May 7.

Area middle-school, high-school, and college students will participate in STEM activities, chat with NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, and hear from NASA leadership during an Artemis Generation panel discussion. The event also will include a reading of a Space Day resolution by Louisiana legislators with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Michoud Director Hansel Gill, and astronaut Cassada, highlighting Louisiana’s contributions to space exploration.

NASA Michoud, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance (ULA), Blue Origin, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA STEM, partners for Stennis and Michoud, and selected Louisiana school robotics teams are among the exhibitors for Space Day 2024. GNO Inc. coordinated efforts with local schools to bring middle and high-school school students to participate.

Media opportunities for the day include:

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – STEM activities

Location: Capitol Rotunda

10 a.m. – Chat with NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, NASA Marshall Center Director Joseph Pelfrey, NASA Michoud Assembly Director Hansel Gill, and high school students

Location: Louisiana State Library

TBD – Resolution readings on the House and Senate Floors

11 a.m. – Artemis Generation Panel with college students. Panel participants are Chrystal Morgan, Boeing, as moderator, NASA Marshall Director Joseph Pelfrey, and NASA Michoud Assembly Director Hansel Gill.

Location: Louisiana State Capitol

TBD – Louisiana Space Day 2024 Resolution reading by Louisiana Legislators with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Joseph Pelfrey and NASA Michoud Assembly Director Hansel Gill.

About the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility

For more than half a century, NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has been “America’s Rocket Factory,” the nation’s premiere site for manufacturing and assembly of large-scale space structures and systems. Michoud is a NASA-owned facility, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

To learn more about programs and activities at NASA Michoud, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/michoud-assembly-facility/

Craig Betbeze
Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans
504-419-5333
craig.c.betbeze@nasa.gov

Explore More

4 min read

Hi-C Rocket Experiment Achieves Never-Before-Seen Look at Solar Flares

Article


4 days ago

23 min read

The Marshall Star for May 1, 2024

Article


5 days ago

4 min read

NASA Marshall Prepares for Strategic Facilities Updates 

Article


7 days ago

Keep Exploring

Discover Related Topics

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Beth Ridgeway

Hubble Views a Galaxy with a Voracious Black Hole

Bright, starry spiral arms surround an active galactic center in this new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy NGC 4951.

Located in the Virgo constellation, NGC 4951 is located roughly 50 million light-years away from Earth. It’s classified as a Seyfert galaxy, which means that it’s an extremely energetic type of galaxy with an active galactic nucleus (AGN). However, Seyfert galaxies are unique from other sorts of AGNs because the galaxy itself can still be clearly seen – different types of AGNs are so bright that it’s nearly impossible to observe the actual galaxy that they reside within.

AGNs like NGC 4951 are powered by supermassive black holes. As matter whirls into the black hole, it generates radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, making the AGN shine brightly.

Hubble helped prove that supermassive black holes exist at the core of almost every galaxy in our universe. Before the telescope launched into low-Earth orbit in 1990, astronomers only theorized about their existence. The mission verified their existence by observing the undeniable effects of black holes, like jets of material ejecting from black holes and disks of gas and dust revolving around those black holes at very high speeds.

These observations of NGC 4951 were taken to provide valuable data for astronomers studying how galaxies evolve, with a particular focus on the star formation process. Hubble gathered this information, which is being combined with observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to support a JWST Treasury program. Treasury programs collect observations that focus on the potential to solve multiple scientific problems with a single, coherent dataset and enable a variety of compelling scientific investigations.

Media Contact:

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

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Galaxies

Galaxies Stories

Black Holes

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Hubble Hunts Visible Light Sources of X-Rays

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the dwarf galaxy IC 776. This swirling collection of new and old stars is located in the constellation Virgo, in the Virgo galaxy cluster, 100 million light-years from Earth. Although IC 776 is a dwarf galaxy, it’s also classified as a SAB-type or ‘weakly barred’ spiral. This highly detailed Hubble view demonstrates that complexity. IC 776 has a ragged, disturbed disc that appears to spiral around the core with arcs of star-forming regions.

The image is from an observation program dedicated to the study of dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster that is searching for the visible light emissions from sources of X-rays in these galaxies. X-rays are often emitted by accretion discs, where material that is drawn into a compact object by gravity crashes together and forms a hot, glowing disc. The compact object can be a white dwarf or neutron star in a binary pair that is stealing material from its companion star, or it can be the supermassive black hole at the heart of a galaxy devouring material around it. Dwarf galaxies like IC 776, traveling through the Virgo cluster, experience pressure from intergalactic gas that is similar to the pressure you feel from air hitting your face when you ride a bicycle. This intergalactic gas pressure can both stimulate star formation and feed the central black hole in a galaxy. As more material swirls down toward the black hole, it creates an energetic accretion disc, hot enough to emit X-rays.

While Hubble is not able to see X-rays, it can coordinate with X-ray telescopes such as NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, revealing the sources of this radiation in high resolution using visible light. Dwarf galaxies are very important to our understanding of cosmology and the evolution of galaxies. As with many areas of astronomy, the ability to examine these galaxies across the electromagnetic spectrum is critical to their study.

Text Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Media Contact:

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

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Galaxies

Chandra Spacecraft and Instruments

Chandra Spacecraft and Instruments The Chandra telescope system consists of four pairs of mirrors and their support structure. X-ray telescopes must be…

Goddard Space Flight Center

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

NASA Research Park Public Documents

Economic Benefits Study:

• 2015 Economic Benefits Study
• 2010 Economic Benefits Study
• 2010 Economic Benefits Study – Appendices

Development Plans:

• NASA Ames Development Plan – Dec 2002
• Environmental Issues and Management Plan
• US Fish and Wildlife Service Information Consultations on Proposed Development of NASA Ames Research Center
• Record of Decision

NASA Research Park Environmental Reports:

• Building 19 Lead, Asbestos, Mold Report – Feb 2002
• Lead Impacted Soil Summary – Jul 2002
• Lead Impacted Soil Sampling – Jan 2003

Environmental Management Division Public Documents:

• Historic Shenandoah District Development Plan
• Human Health Risk Assessment
• Mitigation Implementation and Monitoring Plan
• Transportation Demand and Management Plan

Environmental Impact Statement:

• NASA Research Park Environmental Impact Statement
• EIS Appendix A
• EIS Appendix B
• EIS Appendix C
• EIS Appendix D
• EIS Appendix E
• EIS Appendix F
• EIS Appendix G

RFP Housing Asbestos & Lead Based Paint Documents:

• Building 82 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 82 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 111 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 111 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 146 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 146 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 148 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 148 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 149 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 149 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 150 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 150 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 151 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 151 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 153 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 153 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 154 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 154 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 155 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 155 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 156 Asbestos Survey Report 2002
• Building 156 Asbestos Survey Report 2001
• Building 156 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 343 Bathroom Asbestos Survey Report 2010
• Building 343 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 459 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 459 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 512 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 512 Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 512C Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 512C Lead Based Paint Survey Report
• Building 534 Asbestos Survey Report
• Building 534 Lead Based Paint Survey Report

FP Housing Misc Due Diligence Documents:

• Environmental Baseline Survey NASA Research Park Parcel 1
• Amendment 91-4A to Administrative Order
• Administrative Order for Remedial Design and Remedial Action
• Closure Letter for Underground Storage Tank 57
• Uniform Case Closure Letter, Former Underground Storage Tank 58
• Consent Decree, United States of America v. Intel Corporation and Raytheon Company
• NASA Moffett Federal Facility Agreement under CERCLA Section 120 between the EPA Region IX, the State of California, and NASA, d
• Amendment to the Federal Facility Agreement NAS Moffett Field under CERCLA Section 120 between the EPA, Navy, and the State of C
• Federal Facility Agreement
• Record of Decision, MEW Study Area June 1989
• Record of Decision Amendment for the Vapor Intrusion Pathway, Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman (MEW) Superfund Study Area, Mountain Vie
• Ames Procedural Requirements 8500.1 (Ames Environmental Procedural Requirements)
• Ames Procedural Requirements 8715.1, Chapter 20 (Fire Protection)
• Comprehensive Land Use Plan – Santa Clara County
• Housing Area Demolition List
• NASA Procedural Requirements 1600.1A (NASA Security Program Procedural Requirements)
• NASA Housing RFP Q&A issued 12-12-2017
• NASA Procedural Requirements 8820.2G (Facility Project Requirements)
• Tour Request Form
• Ames Procedural Requirements 8822.1 (NASA Research Park Design Review Program)
• RFP Housing Pre-Submission Tour Form
• Ames Policy Directive 8829.1 (Construction Permits)
• Environmental Baseline Survey Parcels 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7, Harding ESE, October 3, 2001
• Ames Procedural Requirements 8829.1 (Construction Permit Process)
• Environmental Resources Document
• NASA Ames Design Review Program Requirements & Procedures
• Environmental Baseline Survey NASA Research Park Parcel 5

Miscellaneous Documents:

• Moffett Field Main Gate Construction Phase 3

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Theodore R. Triano

2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Prediction vs. Reality

Before a total solar eclipse crossed North America on April 8, 2024, scientists at Predictive Science Inc. of San Diego aimed to foresee what the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, would look like during totality.

The predictions help researchers understand the accuracy of their models of the Sun’s corona, which extends along its magnetic field. A solar eclipse offers a rare opportunity to view the entire corona from Earth, guiding research into how its energy can cause solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can disrupt technology on Earth and in space.

The researchers used the Aitken, Electra, and Pleiades supercomputers at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility, located at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. With near-real-time data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and ESA’s (the European Space Agency) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter, they created a dynamic model of the corona. The team’s model accurately predicted several details, including long streamers in the upper and lower left side of the image, but the streamers’ locations are slightly misaligned when compared with real images. This is likely because some new activity on the far side of the Sun, which affected the appearance of the corona, wasn’t yet seen and couldn’t be incorporated in the model. Once it was, the model more closely matched observational photos of the corona.

Recognizing that the corona is inherently complex and difficult to predict during solar maximum, Cooper Downs, a research scientist at Predictive Science, said, “We’re really thrilled with this simulation. It really has a lot of scientific consequences that I think we’ll be exploring for a long time.”

By Rachel Lense, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md;
with Tara Friesen, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…