University High Wins L.A. Ocean Sciences Bowl at NASA’s JPL

The annual competition aims to help students expand their ocean-related knowledge outside the classroom and to become environmental stewards.

University High School of Irvine, California, emerged victorious on Jan. 20 at the Los Angeles regional Ocean Sciences Bowl tournament, which NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has hosted annually since 2000.

Eight schools from Los Angeles and Orange counties competed, with Santa Monica High School taking second place and and Torrance High placing third.

“For me,” said University High senior Claudia Kahanka, “it’s less about winning and more about interacting with people who are my own age and who are interested in the same things as me. It’s wonderful.”

The student teams spend months studying and preparing for the fast-paced academic competition, with contestants tapping “Jeopardy!”-style buzzers before answering challenging questions on science and policy regarding Earth’s oceans.

“We have practices every week – two-hour practices,” said team captain Maia Kopylova, a senior at University High. “Each individual studies a specific topic. And then we come together on Discord or in person and practice.”

Teams of four to five students have just 5 seconds to answer multiple-choice “buzzer questions,” worth 4 points each, in one of eight categories: biology, chemistry, geography, geology, marine policy, physical oceanography, social sciences, and technology. If a student answers a question correctly, they receive a bonus question worth 6 points and have 20 seconds to consult with their teammates before the team captain must provide an answer. They also face a handful of “team challenge questions” in which they can work together for a longer period to come up with an answer.

The JPL event – called the Los Angeles Surf Bowl – was the first of nearly 20 regional Ocean Sciences Bowl competitions across the country. The tournaments are coordinated by the Center for Ocean Leadership, which is a program of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, an organization focused in part on Earth science-related education. The event at JPL is staffed by volunteers from the lab and University of Southern California, several of whom are competition alumni.

Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov

2024-004

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NASA Glenn’s Langley Legacy

“[On December 15, 1941] a few shivering, startled Southerners from Langley, the vanguard of those in the Power Plants Division transferring to Cleveland, arrived in the biggest snowstorm in years,” recalled former receptionist Mary Louise Gosney. This vanguard was the first large group of NACA employees to relocate from the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory to the new Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory (AERL).  As construction of the AERL proceeded over the next two years, larger factions followed suit. Langley employees not only designed and constructed the AERL but formed the core of the Laboratory’s leadership and research staff for three decades.

For the newcomers, the mid-December snowstorm was a dramatic change from Virginia, where temperatures had reached 60 degrees Fahrenheit just days before. The challenge of acclimation to the northern climate, however, paled in comparison to the tumult resulting from Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines just eight days before. The United States was now involved in World War II on two fronts, and there was a new urgency to get the NACA’s new engine research laboratory operational. The military was relying on the AERL to resolve a host of propulsion issues for its aircraft.

Nearly a year beforehand, in January 1941, Langley construction engineer Charles Herrmann had relocated to Cleveland with Helen Ford, an administrative assistant from NACA Headquarters.

From a 19th-century farmhouse on the barren AERL site, they managed the construction contracting and inspections. Meanwhile, in a room above Langley’s Structural Research Laboratory, a team of civil engineers designed the AERL’s test facilities and other structures. In August 1941, the NACA decided to transfer the Chief of Langley’s Construction Division, Edward Raymond Sharp, to Cleveland to expedite the work.

The Langley arrivals of December 1941, which included inspectors, engineers, draftsmen, mechanics, and administrative staff, were stationed in temporary offices inside the aircraft hangar—the only completed building. Sharp negotiated a key contract with a new construction company in the ensuing weeks that provided a breakthrough in the work. The first test facility was operational in May 1942. One after another, the other buildings and facilities were completed during the following year, and the former Langley staff left the hangar for their permanent offices.

In the fall of 1942, units of the Langley engine research staff began transferring to Cleveland. What had been modest-size sections in Langley’s Power Plants Division were expanded to full divisions in Cleveland. These divisions, led by experienced Langley engineers, included Addison Rothrock’s Fuels and Lubrication Division, Benjamin Pinkel’s Thermodynamics Division, Ernest Whitney’s Engine Installation Division, Charles Moore’s Engine Research Division, Oscar Schey’s Supercharger Division, and Joseph Vensel’s Flight Research Division.

In a somewhat surprising move, the NACA assigned construction manager Ray Sharp the responsibility for running the laboratory on a permanent basis. At Langley and Ames, technically skilled engineers performed that task. Sharp, who had a law degree but no formal scientific or engineering background, was assisted by Executive Engineers Carlton Kemper and Addison Rothrock. Sharp managed the day-to-day activities, while Rothrock and Kemper supervised the research. In 1949, Abe Silverstein, who had helped design and operate Langley’s Full Scale Wind Tunnel, became Chief of Research.

Although the AERL was continually hiring new researchers in the 1940s and 1950s, the ex-Langley personnel provided the laboratory’s backbone. With the arrival of the newcomers, more and more of the Langley veterans moved into the management ranks. Nearly all of the division chiefs and upper-management positions during the NACA era were occupied by former Langley people.

The relatively small size of the AERL staff and the fact that many of them were new to northeast Ohio resulted in a close community. Everyone knew nearly everyone else, families were started, and lifelong friendships formed. Sharp and his wife Vera were parental figures who looked after the employees and participated in the staff dances, sporting events, and other social activities.

The transition from the NACA to NASA in 1958 brought a number of changes to the organization, including the transfer of Silverstein and a number of other key Lewis employees to Headquarters and Langley’s Space Task Group. There was also a shift from the NACA’s mostly in-house research to NASA’s management of external development contracts. The new space agency also dramatically increased the size of its staff in the early 1960s. Silverstein, who replaced Sharp as Director in 1961, knew the importance of camaraderie and successfully encouraged the older NACA veterans to interact socially with the new recruits.

As NASA’s budgets decreased in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the era of Langley’s influence on Lewis came to a close. To reduce its payroll, NASA began to offer employees incentives to retire. The Langley expatriates—many of whom had over 30 years of service—ebbed away during the final years of the Apollo program. The Center struggled for nearly a decade to redefine itself and its culture.

Langley’s legacy is still visible at the Center today in its inductees into the Glenn Hall of Fame, a historic district containing the original facilities, and the campus’s lack of sidewalk plots or tree lawns. The Southerners had not anticipated the need to plow snow when designing the laboratory.

Robert S. Arrighi
NASA Glenn Research Center

This article originally appeared in NASA History News & Notes, Volume 33, Number 4, Fourth Quarter 2016.

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Hubble Observes an Askew Galaxy Coaxing Star Formation from its Partner 

Arp 300 consists of two interacting galaxies, UGC 05028 (the smaller face-on spiral galaxy) and UGC 05029 (the larger face-on spiral). Likely due to its gravitational dance with its larger partner, UGC 05028 has an asymmetric, irregular structure, which is not as visible from ground-based telescopes but is quite distinct in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The bright knot visible to the southeast of the center of UGC 05028 may be the remnant of another small galaxy that is in the process of merging with that galaxy. If this is the case, that remnant will eventually merge with the bar of stars visible in Hubble images of UGC 05028, forming a central bulge similar to that of Arp 300’s larger companion galaxy, UGC 05029.

UGC 05029 has a pronounced spiral structure and multiple hot, blue giant stars visible on the side facing UGC 05028. This enhanced star formation is likely due to the interaction between the two galaxies. Another edge-on spiral galaxy is visible in this image below UGC 05029 but is too faint to be resolved into star-forming regions, while the five objects strung out above it are probably a group of distant background galaxies.

Hubble looked at this galaxy pair to study the relationship between the overall physical characteristics of galaxies and their star formation.

LEARN MORE:

Media Contact:

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

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NASA to Observe Day of Remembrance, Host Employee Safety Town Hall 

In honor of the members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery for the benefit all, the agency will host its annual Day of Remembrance Thursday, Jan. 25. Traditionally held on the fourth Thursday in January each year, NASA Day of Remembrance will commemorate the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.  

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and Associate Administrator Jim Free also will host a town hall at the agency’s headquarters in Washington at 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 23.  

In a dialogue with employees, the leaders will highlight how NASA safety is the cornerstone to achieving mission success. The town hall will air live on the NASA+ streaming service. Coverage also will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Learn how to  stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media. 

On Jan. 25, Nelson will lead an observance with Melroy and Free at 1 p.m. EST at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, which will begin with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by observances for the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia crews. 

“Our annual Day of Remembrance honors the sacrifice of the NASA family who lost their lives in the pursuit of discovery,” said Nelson. “While it is a solemn day, we are forever thankful that our fallen heroes shared their spirt of exploration with NASA, our country, and the world. Today, and every day, we embrace NASA’s core value of safety as we expand our reach in the cosmos for the benefit of all humanity.” 

The administrator will send an agencywide message to employees. Additional agency centers also will hold observances for NASA Day of Remembrance:  

Johnson Space Center, Houston 

NASA Johnson will hold a commemoration at the Astronaut Memorial Grove at 10 a.m. CST. The ceremony will include remarks by Johnson Director Vanessa Wyche. This event will feature a moment of silence, NASA T-38 flyover, taps performed by the Texas A&M Squadron 17, and a tree dedication for former NASA astronaut Karol Bobko. 

Kennedy Space Center, Florida 

NASA Kennedy, in partnership with The Astronauts Memorial Foundation, will host a Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy’s Visitor Complex at 10 a.m. EST. Kathie Fulgham, Astronaut Memorial Foundation chairman and daughter of former NASA astronaut Dick Scobee, will serve as the master of ceremonies. Scobee served as the commander of the space shuttle Challenger.  

Kennedy’s Associate Director in Management, Burt Summerfield, will provide remarks during the ceremony, which will livestream on Kennedy’s Facebook, X, and YouTube pages. 

Ames Research Center, California 

NASA Ames will hold a remembrance ceremony at 1 p.m. PST that includes remarks from Center Director Dr. Eugene Tu, a moment of silence, and bell ringing commemoration. 

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland 

NASA Glenn will observe Day of Remembrance with remarks at 1 p.m. EST from Center Director Dr. Jimmy Kenyon followed by wreath placement, moment of silence, and taps at Lewis Field​. 

Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 

NASA Langley will hold a remembrance ceremony with Center Director Clayton Turner and Acting Deputy Director Lisa Ziehmann followed by placing flags at the Langley Workers Memorial. 

Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 

NASA Marshall will hold a candle-lighting ceremony and wreath placement at 9 a.m. CST. The ceremony will include remarks from Associate Director Larry Leopard, Bill Hill, director of Marshall’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, and an astronaut. 

Stennis Space Flight Center, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi  

NASA Stennis and the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) will hold a wreath-laying ceremony at 9 a.m. CST with remarks from Stennis’ Associate Director Rodney McKellip and NSSC’s Acting Executive Director Ken Newton. 

The agency also is paying tribute to its fallen astronauts with special online content, updated on NASA’s Day of Remembrance, at: 

  https://www.nasa.gov

-end- 

Faith McKie / Cheryl Warner 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1600 
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov  

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Roxana Bardan

NASA Science, Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One Concludes

The first flight of NASA’s commercial lunar delivery service carrying agency science and technology, as well as other customer payloads intended for the Moon, has come to an end. After 10 days and 13 hours in space, Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One made a controlled re-entry on Earth over open water in the South Pacific at approximately 4:04 p.m. EST on Jan. 18.

Astrobotic was the first commercial vendor to launch a mission to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, which aims to advance capabilities for science, exploration or commercial development of the Moon under the agency’s Artemis campaign. There are seven additional CLPS deliveries awarded to multiple American companies, with more awards expected this year and for years to come. The next CLPS commercial flight is targeted for no earlier than February.

Following a successful launch and separation from the rocket on Jan. 8, the spacecraft experienced a propulsion issue preventing Peregrine from softly landing on the Moon. After analysis and recommendations from NASA and the space community, Astrobotic determined the best option for minimizing risk and ensuring responsible disposal of the spacecraft would be to maintain Peregrine’s trajectory toward Earth, where it burned up upon re-entry.

“Space exploration is a daring task, and the science and spaceflight data collected from Astrobotic’s lunar lander is better preparing NASA for future CLPS deliveries and crewed missions under Artemis,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The future of exploration is strengthened by collaboration. Together with our commercial partners, NASA is supporting a growing commercial space economy that will help take humanity back to the Moon, and beyond.”

Four out five NASA payloads on Peregrine successfully powered on and collected data while in flight:

• Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS)
• Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS)
• Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS)
• Peregrine Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS)

As NASA’s LRA (Laser Retroreflector Array) instrument is a passive experiment, and operations could only take place on the lunar surface.

NASA science teams are currently working to interpret the results. Preliminary data suggests the instruments have measured natural radiation and chemical compounds in the area around the lander.

“Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission provided an invaluable opportunity to test our science and instruments in space, optimizing our process for collecting data and providing a benchmark for future missions,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The data collected in flight sets the stage for understanding how some of our instruments may behave in the harsh environment of space when some of the duplicates fly on future CLPS flights.”

NASA is committed to supporting its U.S. commercial vendors as they navigate the challenges of sending science and technology to the surface of the Moon.

For more information about CLPS, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/clps

-end-

Faith McKie / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
faith.d.mckie@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov

Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Flight Center, Houston
281-383-5111
nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov

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Roxana Bardan