NASA, Sierra Space Invite Media to See Spaceplane for Cargo Missions

As part of NASA’s efforts to expand commercial resupply in low Earth orbit, media are invited to view Sierra Space’s uncrewed commercial spaceplane ahead of its first demonstration flight for the agency to the International Space Station in 2024.

The Dream Chaser event is scheduled to begin at 10:15 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 1, at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

For the first time, the spaceplane is coupled with its companion Shooting Star cargo module in a 55-foot-tall vertical stack for environmental testing in the Mechanical Vibration Facility at Armstrong Test Facility’s Space Environments Complex.

During the event, the following officials will provide brief remarks about the agency’s efforts to enable commercial industry, the unique capabilities of the NASA test facility, as well as share more about Dream Chaser and its ongoing testing at NASA Glenn:

• Dr. Jimmy Kenyon, director, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland
• Tom Vice, chief executive officer, Sierra Space

A question-and-answer session will follow remarks. Dr. Tom Marshburn, former NASA astronaut and chief medical officer for Sierra Space, also will be in attendance and available for interviews.

Media interested in attending must RSVP by 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, to Brian Newbacher at brian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov or 216-433-5644.

Attendance is in-person only and limited to participants, invited guests, and credentialed media.

Dream Chaser and its cargo module are undergoing testing on NASA’s spacecraft shaker table, exposing the stack to vibrations like those it will experience during launch and re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere. Armstrong Test Facility is part of NASA Glenn. Located on 6,400 acres, it is home to some of the world’s largest and most capable space simulation test facilities, where ground tests are conducted for the U.S. and international space and aeronautics communities.

In 2016, NASA awarded a Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract to Sierra Space to resupply the International Space Station with its Dream Chaser spaceplane and companion Shooting Star cargo module. NASA is opening access to space to more science by enabling commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station for the crew members aboard the microgravity laboratory. The agency is helping build a low Earth orbit economy where NASA is one of many customers of U.S. private industry for cargo, crew, and space destinations for the benefit of humanity. As NASA transitions low Earth orbit to industry, the agency also is returning to the Moon as part of Artemis in preparation for Mars.

Learn more about Dream Chaser at:

https://go.nasa.gov/3Oe9wi0

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Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Brian Newbacher
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-433-5644
brian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov

Leah Cheshier 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-483-5111  
leah.d.cheshier@nasa.gov

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Abbey A. Donaldson

Celebrating NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity Rovers’ Mars Landings

NASA’s twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, stand on the Martian landscape in this poster created to commemorate their 20^th landing anniversary.

The rovers landed in January 2004, on opposite sides of the planet in locales that scientists suspected had been affected by liquid water in the past. Their main scientific objective was to search for a range of rocks and soil types and then look for clues for past water activity on Mars—and what they found rewrote textbooks.

In addition to proving that water once existed on Mars, the rovers also far exceeded their initial planned lifetimes. Spirit operated for 6 years, 2 months, and 19 days, more than 25 times its original intended lifetime, and Opportunity operated for almost 15 years, setting several records.

Download the poster free here.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Monika Luabeya

NASA Welcomes Belgium as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory

During a ceremony at the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels on Tuesday, Belgium became the 34th country to sign the Artemis Accords. The accords establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations, including those participating in NASA’s Artemis campaign.

“Congratulations to Belgium on becoming the newest member of the Artemis Accords family,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “It’s clear that countries around the world understand the opportunity that space presents. As the 34th signatory of the Artemis Accords, Belgium is showing great leadership in committing to responsible exploration in the 21st century.”

Hadja Lahbib, minister of foreign affairs, European affairs and foreign trade, and the federal cultural institutions, and Thomas Dermine, state secretary for economic recovery and strategic investments, in charge of science policy, signed on behalf of Belgium.

“Joining the Artemis Accords reflects our logic of cooperation and enables Belgium to join the working group of states that have already signed,” said Dermine.

“Belgium always has its feet on the ground and its head in the stars,” said Lahbib. “Our country is one of the world leaders in space exploration. The signing of the Artemis Accords shows our ongoing commitment to sustainable and responsible space, and will strengthen ties with international partners. It will also open new economic opportunities for our companies, which have world-renowned expertise in the space sector.”

NASA, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State, established the Artemis Accords in 2020 together with seven other original signatories. Since then, the Accords signatories have held focused discussions on how best to implement the Artemis Accords principles.

The Artemis Accords reinforce and implement key obligations in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They also strengthen the commitment by the United States and signatory nations to the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data.

More countries are expected to sign the accords in the months and years ahead, which is important to advancing safe, peaceful, and prosperous activities in space. Learn more about the Artemis Accords at:

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords

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Faith McKie / Roxana Bardan
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.mckie@nasa.gov / roxana.bardan@nasa.gov

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Roxana Bardan

NASA System Predicts Impact of a Very Small Asteroid Over Germany

The Scout impact assessment system calculated where and when the asteroid 2024 BX1 would impact Earth’s atmosphere, providing a useful demonstration of planetary defense capability.

A small asteroid about 3 feet (1 meter) in size disintegrated harmlessly over Germany on Sunday, Jan. 21, at 1:32 a.m. local time (CET). At 95 minutes before it impacted Earth’s atmosphere, NASA’s Scout impact hazard assessment system, which monitors data on potential asteroid discoveries, gave advance warning as to where and when the asteroid would impact. This is the eighth time in history that a small Earth-bound asteroid has been detected while still in space, before entering and disintegrating in our atmosphere.

The asteroid’s impact produced a bright fireball, or bolide, which was seen from as far away as the Czech Republic and may have scattered small meteorites on the ground at the impact site about 37 miles (60 kilometers) west of Berlin. The asteroid was later designated 2024 BX1.

While NASA reports on near-Earth objects (NEOs) of all sizes, the agency has been tasked by Congress with detecting and tracking NEOs 140 meters in size and larger that could cause significant damage on the ground if they should impact our planet. Those objects can be spotted much further in advance than small ones like 2024 BX1.

Tiny asteroids like this one impact our planet from time to time. They pose no hazard to life on Earth but can provide a useful demonstration of NASA’s planetary defense capabilities such as Scout’s rapid-response trajectory computation and impact alerts.

How It Was Predicted

The asteroid 2024 BX1 was first observed less than three hours before its impact by Krisztián Sárneczky at Piszkéstető Mountain Station of the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, Hungary. These early observations were reported to the Minor Planet Center – the internationally recognized clearinghouse for the position measurements of small solar system bodies – and automatically posted on the center’s Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page so that other astronomers could make additional observations.

Scout, which was developed and is operated by the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, automatically fetched the new data from that page, deducing the object’s possible trajectory and chances of impacting Earth. CNEOS calculates the orbit of every known NEO to provide assessments of potential impact hazards for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

With three observations posted to the confirmation page over 27 minutes, Scout initially identified that an impact was possible and that additional observations were urgently needed. As astronomers across Europe reported new data to the Minor Planet Center, the asteroid’s trajectory became better known and the probability of its impacting Earth significantly increased.

Seventy minutes after 2024 BX1 was first spotted, Scout reported a 100% probability of Earth impact and began to narrow down the location and time. As tracking continued and more data became available over the next hour, Scout improved estimates of the time and location. Since the asteroid disintegrated over a relatively populated part of the world, many photos and videos of the fireball were posted online minutes after the event.

Tracking NEOs

The first asteroid to be discovered and tracked well before impacting our planet was 2008 TC3, which entered our atmosphere and broke up over Sudan in October 2008. That 13-foot-wide (4-meter-wide) asteroid scattered hundreds of small meteorites over the Nubian Desert.

In early 2023, another tiny asteroid, designated 2023 CX1, was detected seven hours before it entered Earth’s atmosphere over northwestern France. As with 2024 BX1, Scout accurately predicted the location and time of impact.

With NEO surveys becoming more sophisticated and sensitive, more of these harmless objects are being detected before entering our atmosphere, providing real exercises for NASA’s planetary defense program. The details gathered from such events are helping to inform the agency’s mitigation strategies should a large and hazardous object on a collision course with our planet be detected in the future.

More information about asteroids, near-Earth objects, and planetary defense at NASA can be found at:

https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense

News Media Contacts

Ian J. O’Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / charles.e.blue@nasa.gov

2024-006             

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NASA to Discuss Science, First Intuitive Machines Artemis Moon Flight

NASA will host a media teleconference at 3:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 31, to discuss its science and technology demonstrations flying aboard Intuitive Machines’ first flight to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. 

Audio of the CLPS science call will livestream on the agency’s website at:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

Briefing participants include:

• Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• Debra Needham, program scientist, Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, NASA Headquarters
• Chris Culbert, program manager, CLPS, NASA Johnson Space Center
• Trent Martin, vice president, Space Systems, Intuitive Machines

To participate, media must RSVP no later than two hours before the briefing by emailing  ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

The Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and carry NASA robotic science and other commercial payloads to the Moon. Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for a multi-day launch window, which opens no earlier than mid-February from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Among the items on its lander, this first Intuitive Machines mission will carry NASA science instruments focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather and lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.

In May 2019, the agency awarded a task order for scientific payload delivery to Intuitive Machines. Through Artemis, commercial robotic deliveries will perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon in advance of Artemis Generation astronaut missions to the lunar surface, in preparation for future missions to Mars.

NASA is working with several U.S. companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the CLPS initiative. This pool of companies may bid on task orders. A task order award includes payload integration and operations, as well as launching from Earth and landing on the surface of the Moon. NASA’s CLPS contracts are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum contract value of $2.6 billion through 2028.

For CLPS updates including launch follow:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis

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Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov

Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov

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Abbey A. Donaldson