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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
By Wayne Smith<\/em><\/p>\n Investigators at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will use observations from a recently-launched sounding rocket mission to provide a clearer image of how and why the Sun\u2019s corona grows so much hotter than the visible surface of Earth\u2019s parent star. The MaGIXS-2 mission \u2013 short for the second flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer \u2013 launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Tuesday, July 16.<\/p>\n The mission\u2019s goal is to determine the heating mechanisms in active regions on the Sun by making critical observations using X-ray spectroscopy.<\/p>\n The Sun\u2019s surface temperature is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit \u2013 but the corona routinely measures more than 1.8 million degrees, with active regions measuring up to 5 million degrees.<\/p>\n Amy Winebarger, Marshall heliophysicist and principal investigator for the MaGIXS missions<\/a>, said studying the X-rays from the Sun sheds light on what\u2019s happening in the solar atmosphere \u2013 which, in turn, directly impacts Earth and the entire solar system.<\/p>\n X-ray spectroscopy provides unique capabilities for answering fundamental questions in solar physics and for potentially predicting the onset of energetic eruptions on the Sun like solar flares or coronal mass ejections. These violent outbursts can interfere with communications satellites and electronic systems, even causing physical drag on satellites as Earth\u2019s atmosphere expands to absorb the added solar energy.<\/p>\n \u201cLearning more about these solar events and being able to predict them are the kind of things we need to do to better live in this solar system with our Sun,\u201d Winebarger said.<\/p>\n The NASA team retrieved the payload immediately after the flight and has begun processing datasets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have these active regions on the Sun, and these areas are very hot, much hotter than even the rest of the corona,\u201d said Patrick Champey, deputy principal investigator at Marshall for the mission. \u201cThere\u2019s been a big question \u2013 how are these regions heated? We previously determined it could relate to how often energy is released. The X-rays are particularly sensitive to this frequency number, and so we built an instrument to look at the X-ray spectra and disentangle the data.\u201d<\/p>\n Following a successful July 2021 launch of the first MaGIXS mission, Marshall and its partners refined instrumentation for MaGIXS-2 to provide a broader view for observing the Sun\u2019s X-rays. Marshall engineers developed and fabricated the telescope and spectrometer mirrors, and the camera. The integrated instrument was exhaustively tested in Marshall\u2019s state-of-the-art X-ray & Cryogenic Facility. For MaGIXS-2, the team refined the same mirrors used on the first flight, with a much larger aperture and completed the testing at Marshall\u2019s Stray Light Test Facility.<\/p>\n A Marshall project from inception, technology developments for MaGIXS include the low-noise CCD camera, high-resolution X-ray optics, calibration methods, and more.<\/p>\n Winebarger and Champey said MaGIXS many of the team members started their NASA careers with the project, learning to take on lead roles and benefitting from mentorship.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s probably the most critical thing, aside from the technology, for being successful,\u201d Winebarger said. \u201cIt\u2019s very rare that you get from concept to flight in a few years. A young engineer can go all the way to flight, come to White Sands to watch it launch, and retrieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA routinely uses sounding rockets for\u00a0 brief, focused science missions. They\u2019re often smaller, more affordable, and faster to design and build than large-scale satellite missions, Winebarger said. Sounding rockets<\/a> carry scientific instruments into space along a parabolic trajectory. Their overall time in space is brief, typically five minutes, and at lower vehicle speeds for a well-placed scientific experiment.<\/p>\n The MaGIXS mission was developed at Marshall in partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Sounding Rockets Program Office, located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center\u2019s\u00a0Wallops Flight Facility<\/a>, provides suborbital launch vehicles, payload development, and field operations support to NASA and other government agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jonathan Deal Lane Figueroa![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/magixs-2-sounding-rocket-launch-high-res-white-sands-7-16-2024-credit-navy.jpg\")
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<\/strong>Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
<\/strong>Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.932.1940
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\nShare<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n