![\"NASA](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/nasa-tempo-cover-image.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/figure>NASA\u2019s TEMPO<\/a> (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) mission is the first space-based instrument to measure pollution hourly during the daytime\u00a0across North America, spanning from Mexico City to Northern Canada and coast-to-coast.<\/p>\n Launched in April 2023, TEMPO provides unprecedented daytime measurement and monitoring of major air pollutants. The first-of-its-kind instrument can monitor pollution within a four-square-mile area and is helping climate scientists improve life on Earth by providing openly accessible air quality data for studies of rush hour pollution, the transport of pollution from forest fires and volcanoes, and even the effects of fertilizers, and it also has the potential to help improve air quality alerts.<\/p>\n Making Oxygen on Mars<\/strong><\/p>\n In September, a microwave-size device known as\u00a0MOXIE<\/a>\u00a0(Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) aboard NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover generated oxygen from the Martian atmosphere for the 16th and final time.\u00a0<\/p>\n Extracting oxygen from the atmospheric resources found on Mars via In-situ Resource Utilization processes will be critical to long-term human exploration of the Red Planet, providing explorers with breathable air and rocket propellant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since Perseverance<\/a> landed in 2021, MOXIE has proven far more successful than expected, generating 122 grams of oxygen, including 9.8 grams on its final run. At its most efficient, MOXIE produced 12 grams of oxygen an hour \u2013 twice as much as NASA\u2019s original goals for the instrument \u2013 at least 98% purity.<\/p>\n Asteroid Sampler<\/strong><\/p>\n On Sept. 24, NASA\u2019s\u00a0OSIRIS-REx mission<\/a>\u00a0returned a sample from asteroid Bennu to Earth. The sample is the first asteroid collected in space by NASA, and the largest ever collected from an asteroid. The rock and dust represent relics of our early solar system and could shed light on the origins of life.<\/p>\n Early analysis of the sample at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston has revealed high carbon content and water, which together could indicate the building blocks of life on Earth may be found in the rock. The Bennu sample will be divided and shared with partner space agencies and other institutions, providing generations of scientists a window about 4.5 billion years into the past.<\/p>\n Quiet Sonic Thumps<\/strong><\/p>\n NASA\u2019s X-59 experimental aircraft, the agency\u2019s first purpose-built, supersonic X-plane in decades, is currently scheduled to take to the skies in 2024.<\/p>\n The centerpiece of NASA\u2019s Quesst mission<\/a>, the agency will fly the X-59 to demonstrate the ability to fly faster than the speed of sound while reducing the typically loud sonic boom to a quieter \u201csonic thump\u201d. NASA will use the X-59 to provide data to help regulators amend current rules that ban commercial supersonic flight over land, opening the door to greatly reduced flight times.<\/p>\n NASA will fly the X-59 over several U.S. cities in the final phase of the mission, gathering public input to the hushed sonic thumps.\u00a0<\/p>\n The TEMPO instrument is managed by NASA Langley\u2019s Science Directorate\u00a0in collaboration with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. It was built by Ball Aerospace and integrated onto Intelsat 40E by Maxar.<\/p>\n The MOXIE experiment was built Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the project for the agency\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n The OSIRIS-REx mission, launched on Sept. 8, 2016, was led by the University of Arizona. It is managed by NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, under the agency\u2019s Science Mission Directorate\u2019s New Frontiers Program.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator project is managed by NASA\u2019s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, the Quesst mission is managed by NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and both efforts are led by NASA\u2019s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n For more information about the agency\u2019s missions, visit: <\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a> As NASA explores, innovates, and inspires through its work, agency inventions aimed at monitoring atmospheric pollution, studying samples from asteroids, extracting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, and revolutionizing flight have been named TIME\u2019s Inventions of 2023. TIME announced the honorees on Oct. 24. \u201cFor more than 65 years, NASA has innovated for the benefit of [\u2026] Continue reading ![\"Technicians](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/moxie-9474-pia23154-web.jpg?w=2000\")
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\nRoxana Bardan <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"