NASA’s Juno spacecraft just made the closest flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has carried out in more than 20 years. An instrument on this spacecraft called “JunoCam” returned spectacular, high-resolution images—and raw data are now available for you to process, enhance, and investigate.
On Dec. 30th, 2023, Juno came within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the surface of the solar system’s most volcanic world. It made a second ultra-close flyby of Io just this week. The second pass went predominantly over the southern hemisphere of Io, while prior flybys have been over the north. There’s a lot to see in these photos! There’s evidence of an active plume, tall mountain peaks with well-defined shadows, and lava lakes—some with apparent islands.
It will be a challenge to sort all of this out, and the JunoCam scientists need your help. Previous JunoCam volunteers like Gerald Eichstadt have seen their processed images appear in multiple scientific publications and press releases.
NASA’s Roman to Use Rare Events to Calculate Expansion Rate of Universe
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the powerful gravity of a galaxy embedded in a massive cluster of galaxies producing multiple images of a single distant supernova far behind it. The image shows the galaxy’s location within a large cluster of galaxies called MACS J1149.6+2223, located more than 5 billion light-years away. In the enlarged inset view of the galaxy, the arrows point to the multiple copies of an exploding star, named Supernova Refsdal, located 9.3 billion light-years from Earth.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Rodney (JHU) and the FrontierSN team; T. Treu (UCLA), P. Kelly (UC Berkeley), and the GLASS team; J. Lotz (STScI) and the Frontier Fields team; M. Postman (STScI) and the CLASH team; and Z. Levay (STScI)
Astronomers investigating one of the most pressing mysteries of the cosmos – the rate at which the universe is expanding – are readying themselves to study this puzzle in a new way using NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Once it launches by May 2027, astronomers will mine Roman’s wide swaths of images for gravitationally lensed supernovae, which can be used to measure the expansion rate of the universe.
There are multiple independent ways astronomers can measure the present expansion rate of the universe, known as the Hubble constant. Different techniques have yielded different values, referred to as the Hubble tension. Much of Roman’s cosmological investigations will be into elusive dark energy, which affects how the universe is expanding over time. One primary tool for these investigations is a fairly traditional method, which compares the intrinsic brightness of objects like type Ia supernovae to their perceived brightness to determine distances. Alternatively, astronomers could use Roman to examine gravitationally lensed supernovae. This method of exploring the Hubble constant is unique from traditional methods because it’s based on geometric methods, and not brightness.
“Roman is the ideal tool to let the study of gravitationally lensed supernovae take off,” said Lou Strolger of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, co-lead of the team preparing for Roman’s study of these objects. “They are rare, and very hard to find. We have had to get lucky in detecting a few of them early enough. Roman’s extensive field of view and repeated imaging in high resolution will help those chances.”
Using various observatories like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered just eight gravitationally lensed supernovae in the universe. However, only two of those eight have been viable candidates to measure the Hubble constant due to the type of supernovae they are and the duration of their time-delayed imaging.
Gravitational lensing occurs when the light from an object like a stellar explosion, on its way to Earth, passes through a galaxy or galaxy cluster and gets deflected by the immense gravitational field. The light splits along different paths and forms multiple images of the supernova on the sky as we see it. Depending on the differences between the paths, the supernova images appear delayed by hours to months, or even years. Precisely measuring this difference in arrival times between the multiple images leads to a combination of distances that constrain the Hubble constant.
“Probing these distances in a fundamentally different way than more common methods, with the same observatory in this case, can help shed light on why various measurement techniques have yielded different results,” added Justin Pierel of STScI, Strolger’s co-lead on the program.
This illustration, using Hubble Space Telescope images of Supernova Refsdal, shows how the gravity of massive galaxy cluster MACS J1149.6+2223 bends and focuses the light from the supernova behind it, resulting in multiple images of the exploding star. The upper graphic shows that when the star explodes, its light travels through space and encounters the foreground galaxy cluster. The light paths are bent by the cluster’s gravity and redirected onto new paths, several of which are pointed at Earth. Astronomers, therefore, see multiple images of the exploding star, each one corresponding to one of those altered light paths. Each image takes a different route through the cluster and arrives at a different time. In the lower graphic, the redirected light passes through a giant elliptical galaxy within the cluster. This galaxy adds another layer of lensing.
Credit: Illustration: NASA, ESA, A. Fields (STScI), and J. DePasquale (STScI). Science: NASA, ESA, and S. Rodney (JHU) and the FrontierSN team; T. Treu (UCLA), P. Kelly (UC Berkeley), and the GLASS team; J. Lotz (STScI) and the Frontier Fields team; M. Postman (STScI) and the CLASH team; and Z. Levay (STScI)
Finding the Needle in the Haystack
Roman’s extensive surveys will be able to map the universe much faster than Hubble can, with the telescope “seeing” more than 100 times the area of Hubble in a single image.
“Rather than gathering several pictures of trees, this new telescope will allow us to see the entire forest in a single snapshot,” Pierel explained.
In particular, the High Latitude Time Domain Survey will observe the same area of sky repeatedly, which will allow astronomers to study targets that change over time. This means there will be an extraordinary amount of data – over 5 billion pixels each time – to sift through in order to find these very rare events.
A team led by Strolger and Pierel at STScI is laying the groundwork for finding gravitationally lensed supernovae in Roman data through a project funded by NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Research and Support Participation Opportunities program.
“Because these are rare, leveraging the full potential of gravitationally lensed supernovae depends on a high level of preparation,” said Pierel. “We want to make all the tools for finding these supernovae ready upfront so we don’t waste any time sifting through terabytes of data when it arrives.”
The project will be carried out by a team of researchers from various NASA centers and universities around the country.
The preparation will occur in several stages. The team will create data reduction pipelines designed to automatically detect gravitationally lensed supernovae in Roman imaging. To train those pipelines, the researchers will also create simulated imaging: 50,000 simulated lenses are needed, and there are only 10,000 actual lenses currently known.
The data reduction pipelines created by Strolger and Pierel’s team will complement pipelines being created to study dark energy with Type Ia supernovae.
“Roman is truly the first opportunity to create a gold-standard sample of gravitationally lensed supernovae,” concluded Strolger. “All our preparations now will produce all the components needed to ensure we can effectively leverage the enormous potential for cosmology.”
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Southern California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Melbourne, Florida; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
By Hannah Braun Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
NASA to Demonstrate Autonomous Navigation System on Moon
5 Min Read
NASA to Demonstrate Autonomous Navigation System on Moon
When the second CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) delivery is launched to the Moon in mid-February, its NASA payloads will include an experiment that could change how human explorers, rovers, and spacecraft independently track their precise location on the Moon and in cis-lunar space.
Demonstrating autonomous navigation, the Lunar Node-1 experiment, or LN-1, is a radio beacon designed to support precise geolocation and navigation observations for landers, surface infrastructure, and astronauts, digitally confirming their positions on the Moon relative to other craft, ground stations, or rovers on the move. These radio beacons also can be used in space to help with orbital maneuvers and with guiding landers to a successful touchdown on the lunar surface.
IM-1, the first NASA Commercial Launch Program Services launch for Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, will carry multiple payloads to the Moon, including Lunar Node-1, demonstrating autonomous navigation via radio beacon to support precise geolocation and navigation among lunar orbiters, landers, and surface personnel. NASA’s CLPS initiative oversees industry development of small robotic landers and rovers to support NASA’s Artemis campaign.
“Imagine getting verification from a lighthouse on the shore you’re approaching, rather than waiting on word from the home port you left days earlier,” said Evan Anzalone, principal investigator of LN-1 and a navigation systems engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “What we seek to deliver is a lunar network of lighthouses, offering sustainable, localized navigation assets that enable lunar craft and ground crews to quickly and accurately confirm their position instead of relying on Earth.”
The system is designed to operate as part of a broader navigation infrastructure, anchored by a series of satellites in lunar orbit as being procured under NASA’s Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems project. Together, future versions of LN-1 would utilize LunaNet-defined standards to provide interoperable navigation reference signals from surface beacons as well as orbital assets.
Currently, navigation beyond Earth is heavily reliant on point-to-point services provided by NASA’s Deep Space Network, an international array of giant radio antennas which transmit positioning data to interplanetary spacecraft to keep them on course. These measurements typically are relayed back to Earth and processed on the ground to deliver information back to the traveling vehicle.
But when seconds count during orbital maneuvers, or among explorers traversing uncharted areas of the lunar surface, LN-1 offers a timely improvement, Anzalone said.
Lunar Node-1, an autonomous navigation payload that will change how human explorers safely traverse the Moon’s surface and live and work in lunar orbit, awaits liftoff as part of Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, its first under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. LN-1 was developed, built, and tested at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA/Intuitive Machines
The CubeSat-sized experiment is one of six payloads included in the NASA delivery manifest for Intuitive Machines of Houston, which will be launched via a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Designated IM-1, the launch is the company’s first for NASA’s CLPS initiative, which oversees industry development, testing, and launch of small robotic landers and rovers supporting NASA’s Artemis campaign.
The Nova-C lander is scheduled to touch down near Malapert A, a lunar impact crater in the Moon’s South Pole region.
Engineers at NASA Marshall conducted all structural design, thermal and electronic systems development, and integration and environmental testing of LN-1 as part of the NASA-Provided Lunar Payloads project funded by the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. Anzalone and his team delivered the payload in 2021, having performed the payload build during the COVID pandemic. Since then, they refined the operating procedures, conducted thorough testing of the integrated flight system, and in October 2023, oversaw installation of LN-1 on Intuitive Machines’ lander.
The payload will transmit information briefly each day during the journey to the Moon. Upon lunar touchdown, the LN-1 team will conduct a full systems checkout and begin continuous operations within 24 hours of landing. NASA’s Deep Space Network will receive its transmissions, capturing telemetry, Doppler tracking, and other data and relaying it back to Earth. Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, also will monitor LN-1’s transmissions throughout the mission, which is scheduled to last approximately 10 days.
Eventually, as the technology is proven and its infrastructure expanded, Anzalone expects LN-1 to evolve from a single lighthouse on the lunar shore into a key piece of a much broader infrastructure, helping NASA evolve its navigation system into something more akin to a bustling metropolitan subway network, wherein every train is tracked in real time as it travels its complex route.
“Spacecraft, surface vehicles, base camps and exploratory digs, even individual astronauts on the lunar surface,” Anzalone said. “LN-1 could connect them all and help them navigate more accurately, creating a reliable, more autonomous lunar network.”
Marshall’s LN-1 team is already discussing future Moon to Mars applications for LN-1 with NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program – which oversees more than 100 NASA and partner missions. They’re also consulting with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and ESA (European Space Agency), aiding the push to unite spacefaring nations via an interconnected, interoperable global architecture.
Eventually, these same technologies and applications we’re proving at the Moon will be vital on Mars, making those next generations of human explorers safer and more self-sufficient as they lead us out into the solar system.
Evan Anzalone
Principal investigator of LN-1
“Eventually, these same technologies and applications we’re proving at the Moon will be vital on Mars, making those next generations of human explorers safer and more self-sufficient as they lead us out into the solar system,” Anzalone said.
NASA’s CLPS initiative enables NASA to buy a complete commercial robotic lunar delivery service from leading aerospace industry contractors. The provider is responsible for launch services, owns its lander design, and leads landing operations. Learn more here.
Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034 jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
NASA, Great Lakes Science Center to Host Eclipse Media Preview Day
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A group of spectators view a solar eclipse at Great Lakes Science Center in 2017.
Credit: NASA/Andrew Dolph
Media are invited to attend an open house from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at Great Lakes Science Center, home of the NASA Glenn Visitor Center.
During the open house, news outlets will get a preview of the Science Center’s Total Eclipse Fest, which is scheduled to take place April 6-8, and learn everything they need to know to cover the total solar eclipse on April 8.
Representatives from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Great Lakes Science Center, and The Cleveland Orchestra will share what to expect during the three-day festival, including:
Things to do and see at the festival
How to film an eclipse
NASA TV broadcast and telescope feeds
Notable interview opportunities
Festival coverage logistics
NASA Glenn experts also will talk about the science behind the solar eclipse, how to view the eclipse safely, and how NASA studies eclipses to make new discoveries about the Sun, Earth, and our space environment.
NASA Ames Hosts JAXA Leader to Discuss Space Science and Spaceflight
NASA/Don Richey
Daniel Andrews, project manager for NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) (left), stands next to a full-scale model of the rover alongside visitors from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA): Dr. Hitoshi Kuninaka, Vice President of JAXA and Director General of JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS); Nobuhiro Takahashi of the ISAS Management and Integration Department; and Shintaro Chofuku, a JAXA engineer on detail to NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley (right), during a visit to Ames on Feb. 1, 2024.
Following briefings about both agencies’ space science and spaceflight missions, Kuninaka toured several Ames facilities supporting NASA and JAXA’s exploration of the solar system. The heat shield for JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission, which delivered a sample of an asteroid to Earth in 2020, was tested in the center’s arc jet facility, and a portion of that sample is now being studied by Ames researchers. An upcoming JAXA mission to study the two moons of Mars, called Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), was also tested in the arc jet.
Present and future exploration of the Moon was a focus of the day, including a stop at Ames’ Lunar Imaging Lab following the VIPER briefing.
VIPER will be delivered to Mons Mouton near the Moon’s South Pole in late 2024 to map water and other potential resources and explore the characteristics of the lunar environment where NASA plans to send future astronauts as part of the Artemis campaign.
Last month, JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) arrived on the lunar surface, after reaching its targeted landing site with great accuracy. The mission aimed to demonstrate accurate lunar landing techniques by a small explorer, to help accelerate study of the Moon and planets using lighter exploration systems.
Japan is a significant partner for NASA and for Ames, specifically,” said Center Director Eugene Tu. “From testing with our teams the X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft design to JAXA’s contributions to Artemis and Gateway, where astronauts on future lunar missions will stay, our work together runs broad and deep. We look forward to many more fruitful collaborations.”
Nobuhiro Takahashi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) Management and Integration Department (left), Dr. Eugene Tu, center director at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and Dr. Hitoshi Kuninaka, vice president of JAXA and director general of ISAS gather for a photo during the JAXA representatives’ visit to Ames on Feb. 1, 2024.
