This Dec. 21, 2002, artist’s concept of NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer imagines what the space telescope would look like during its mission. Launched April 28, 2003, it studied the shape, brightness, size and distance of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history. By observing ultraviolet wavelengths, the telescope measured the history of star formation in the universe.
This space telescope allowed astronomers to uncover mysteries about the early universe and how it evolved, as well as better characterize phenomena like black holes and dark matter. The mission was extended three times over a period of 10 years before it was decommissioned in June 2013.
This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4171 (2024-04-30 19:41:16 UTC).
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Today’s planning was a little out of the ordinary. Not in terms of the plan itself, Curiosity’s team built an exciting plan utilizing much of its science toolkit. Today’s plan was unusual rather due to my role as APXS PUDL Reverse Shadow (PUDL = Payload Uplink/Downlink Lead). While I normally staff the APXS PUDL role, the person on-shift responsible for APXS downlink assessment and uplink planning, operating as a “Reverse Shadow” meant I took a backseat to another APXS team member who was completing the final phases of their training for the role. They handled their duties with great aplomb, leaving me to reflect on my first few shifts in the same role.
As I’m typing this, given how long it has been since that time, I can’t shake the comedy of narrating this section of the blog in the distinct and rapid-paced tone of 1940s or 1950s radio and TV. It was around a month after landing, September 10th 2012, to be specific. I was on shift for the first time as APXS PUDL and was not expecting much in the way of workload given the notional plan. Curiosity, on the other hand, had a different idea. As event logs of the sol prior were received, the intended plan was scrapped and there was an opportunity to propose an activity. My mentor at the time encouraged my input. We were conducting operations at JPL then and walked down the hall to present our request to other members of the team before the sol’s uplink planning meetings officially kicked off (I am correcting myself here as I originally typed “days” instead of “sols” but Mars time meant shifts at this time occurred throughout the night in California). The proposal was accepted, and the proposed activity ultimately went according to plan. I can remember driving back to my hotel as the sun was coming up. It was then that it hit me: I had just influenced something that happened on another planet. It was a very surreal experience. What I didn’t realize then, however, was how important these data acquired on my first shift as lead APXS PUDL would be, given they now serve as a baseline from which we assess APXS performance vs. temperature over time.
Today’s APXS PUDL had a more typical experience. There are two APXS targets in the plan: “Emerald Peak” and “Franklin Lakes.” These targets are both on the same block (the rectangular one just slightly left and above the middle of this blog’s image), with Emerald Peak targeting the visibly altered rim near the lower portion of the block and Franklin Lakes more centrally located. MAHLI will acquire images of both of these targets, including a three-position rotational stereo set on Emerald Peak. A number of other targets were captured by ChemCam and/or Mastcam, including “Grizzly Falls,” “Liberty Cap,” “Pavilion Dome,” “Triple Divide Peak,” and “Haystack Peak.” As Curiosity is not driving in this plan, ChemCam and Mastcam are also used for targeted observations on the second sol, focusing primarily on “The Minarets” and “Pinnacle Ridge,” alongside long-distance observations of “Kukenan.” DAN observations as well as a number of environmental monitoring activities by REMS, Navcam, and Mastcam round out the two-sol plan.
Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University
NASA Is Helping Protect Tigers, Jaguars, and Elephants. Here’s How.
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NASA Is Helping Protect Tigers, Jaguars, and Elephants. Here’s How.
NASA satellites are helping track tiger habitat, offering new insights for conservation as these predators face the consequences of habitat loss.
Credits: Wildlife Conservation Society / Dale Miquelle
As human populations grow, habitat loss threatens many creatures. Mapping wildlife habitat using satellites is a rapidly expanding area of ecology, and NASA satellites play a crucial role in these efforts. Tigers, jaguars, and elephants are a few of the vulnerable animals whose habitats NASA is helping track from space.
“Satellites observe vast areas of Earth’s surface on daily to weekly schedules,” said Keith Gaddis, ecological conservation program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “That helps scientists monitor habitats that would be logistically challenging and time-consuming to survey from the ground — crucial for animals like tigers that roam large territories.”
Here’s how NASA and its partners help protect three of Earth’s most iconic species:
Trouble (and Hope) for Tigers
Tigers have lost at least 93% of their historical range, which once spanned Eurasia. Roughly 3,700 to 5,500 wild tigers remain, up from an estimated low of 3,200 in 2010.
In a recent study, researchers reviewed over 500 studies that contained data on tigers and their habitat across Asia. The team found that the area where the big cats are known to live declined 11%, from about 396,000 square miles in 2001 to about 352,000 square miles in 2020.
The researchers mapped large stretches of “empty forests” without recent tiger presence. Because these areas were suitable habitat and are still big enough to support tigers, they are potential landscapes for restoration, assuming there is enough food. If tigers could reach those areas, either through natural dispersal or active reintroduction, it could “increase the land base for tigers by 50%,” the scientists reported.
“There’s still a lot more room for tigers in the world than even tiger experts thought,” said lead author Eric Sanderson, formerly a senior conservation ecologist at WCS and now vice president of urban conservation at the New York Botanical Garden. “We were only able to figure that out because we brought together all of this data from NASA and integrated it with information from the field.”
Where the Jaguars Are
Jaguars once roamed from the U.S. Southwest to Argentina. But in the past century, they have lost about 50% of their range, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Like tigers, jaguars must contend with poaching and the loss of food sources. Wild jaguars number between 64,000 and 173,000 individuals, and IUCN classifies them as near-threatened.
In Gran Chaco, South America’s second largest woodland, jaguars and other animals live in an especially threatened ecosystem. The dry lowland forest stretches from northern Argentina into Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil, and has experienced severe deforestation.
Image Before/After
Jaguars in Argentina’s Chaco may number in the hundreds. Using data on land use and infrastructure, plus Earth observations from MODIS and Landsat, NASA-funded researchers mapped priority conservation areas for jaguars and other important animals. About 36% of the priority areas in Argentina’s Chaco are currently “low-protection” zones, where deforestation is allowed.
“Managers and conservationists could use the new spatial information to see where current forest zoning is protecting key animals, and where it may need re-evaluation,” said lead author Sebastian Martinuzzi of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Elephants Seek Out Forest Havens
African savanna elephants now occupy an estimated 15% of their historical range, and their numbers have declined. One study surveyed about 90% of the elephants’ range and estimated that their numbers dropped by 144,000 elephants from 2007 to 2014, leaving approximately 352,000 individuals. In 2021, the IUCN updated the elephants’ status to endangered.
A recent study used NASA satellite-derived vegetation indices and other data to study elephants in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, and in nearby semi-protected and unprotected zones. Researchers found that, especially in the unprotected areas, the elephants preferred dense canopy forest, particularly along streams, and avoided open areas like grasslands, especially when more people are present. Human development, such as tourism lodges, is often built in such forests.
Prioritizing elephants’ access to forests in unprotected areas should be of utmost importance for land managers, the researchers said. Because the elephants avoided grasslands, some of those areas could be used for development or livestock — balancing need for economic development and elephant habitat.
The IUCN likewise classifies Asian elephants as endangered. In southern Bhutan, crop depredation and wildlife approaching human settlements is escalating conflicts between people and elephants. In 2020–2021, Bhutanese scholars studying in the United States were selected to participate in the NASA Capacity Building Program’s DEVELOP program. Partnering with the Bhutan Foundation, Bhutan Tiger Center, and Bhutan Ecological Society, the teams used NASA Earth observations, elephant occurrence data, and other information to model current habitat suitability and map wildlife pathways between habitats, aiding strategies that reduce the risk of conflict.
The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) designated 2023 as the year of Open Science, and invited innovators to submit stories of how they’ve advanced equitable open science. OSTP and its federal partners selected five challenge project submissions as “Champions of Open Science” including Zooniverse.
“With Zooniverse we have classified more galaxies than we ever thought possible!” said Lindsay House, scientist on the Dark Energy Explorers project. “Zooniverse participants have been vital in helping us map the universe.”
NASA Technology Grants to Advance Moon to Mars Space Exploration
Brandon Aguiar, a graduate student at Florida International University, works to prepare a slurry containing a lunar regolith simulant, graphene nanoplatelets, and base resin for use in FIU’s ongoing study of the enhanced electrical conductivity of additively manufactured lunar regolith components involving graphene nanoplatelets.
Credit: Florida International University
NASA has awarded nearly $1.5 million to academic, non-profit, and business organizations to advance state-of-the-art technology that will play a key role in the agency’s return to the Moon under Artemis, as well as future missions to Mars.
Twenty-four projects from 21 organizations have been awarded under NASA’s Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notices, or CANs. The awardees also will receive assistance from propulsion, space transportation, and science experts at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“The Dual-Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notice enables NASA to collaboratively work with U.S. industry and academia to develop needed technologies,” said Daniel O’Neil, manager, NASA Marshall’s Technology Development Dual-Use CAN Program. “Products from these cooperative agreements support the closure of identified technology gaps and enable the development of components and systems for NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture.”
These innovative projects include ways to use lunar regolith for construction on the Moon’s surface, using smartphone video guidance sensors to fly robots on the International Space Station, identifying new battery materials, and improving a neutrino particle detector.
The following is a complete list of awardees:
Auburn University in Alabama
Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida
Florida International University in Miami
Fronius USA in Portage, Indiana
Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories in Tullahoma, Tennessee
Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge
Morgan State University in Baltimore
Nanoracks (Voyager Space) in Houston
Northwestern University in Chicago
Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio
Tethon 3D in Omaha, Nebraska
University of Alabama in Huntsville
University of California in Irvine
University of Florida in Gainesville
University of Illinois in Chicago
University of North Texas in Denton
University of Tennessee in Knoxville
University of Tennessee Space Institute
Victory Solutions in Huntsville, Alabama
Wichita State University in Kansas
The Florida Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the University of Alabama were awarded funding for two projects each.
Funding was available for organizations focused on supporting entrepreneurial research and innovation ideas that could advance the commercial space sector and benefit future NASA missions.
Applications are now open for the 2024 solicitation cycle.
