Moon Station by 2032

The far side of the Moon experiences 14 days of continuous sunlight, 

followed by 14 days of total darkness.

NASA is building a permanent base at the lunar South Pole. The project utilizes commercial landers like Blue Origin’s and rovers from companies such as Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. The goal is to achieve early, semi-permanent habitation capability by 2029, and a continuous human presence by 2032.

NASA is procuring the technologies required to sustain a sprawling, miles-long base in a dark, extremely cold environment at the Moon's South Pole. NASA believes that this region of the Moon's surface presents the best access to water ice and minerals. The base will be a hub for mining and processing local resources for long-term habitation and fuel production.

The initial phase involves a rapid series of robotic and cargo missions to scout the South Pole, test technologies, and prepare for human surface operations. Commercial payloads are being delivered using landers with proven heritage to reduce risk for future crewed landings.

Read more here: 2-building-the-moon-base.pdf

2023 "Year of Open Science"

In a time when many distrust Science or feel that their input is neglected, NASA proposes a corrective.

NASA has declared 2023 as the Year of Open Science to celebrate the benefits and successes of open science and to inspire more scientists to adopt open science practices. NASA's Year of Open Science is part of the five-year Transform to Open Science (TOPS) mission and the Open Source Science Initiative (OSSI). TOPS is an ambitious plan to accelerate open science practices and major scientific discoveries by increasing understanding and adoption of open science practices and broadening participation by historically excluded communities. 

In 2023, TOPS will release an introductory open science curriculum, engage with historically underrepresented groups, and develop incentives for open science practices. 

The success of the Year of Open Science will be driven by collaborations with individuals, teams, and organizations who are ready to transform the culture of scientific research into one that celebrates openness and inclusion.

Strategic Objectives

Open Science creates more advanced and inclusive research faster, builds a more just and equitable world, and ensures that minds from all walks of life can participate in science. TOPS is NASA’s ambitious plan to accelerate open science practices. It’s a 5-year journey that will: 

Accelerate major scientific discoveries.

Broaden participation by historically excluded communities.

Increase understanding and adoption of open science principles and techniques.

Open Science will broaden participation, increase accessibility to knowledge, and embrace new technologies that can respond to these changes at scale. 

If your organization wishes to create an open science infrastructure, TOPS will show you how.

More information: https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/transform-to-open-science

Ingenuity Makes Flight and Engineering History

 

NASA's Ingenuity, a small robotic helicopter, made its first flight on Mars on 19 April, 2021. It took off vertically, hovered and landed successfully. Though it was airborne for less than one minute, the drone represents a significant engineering feat.

Getting airborne on the Mars is not easy due to the thin atmosphere. The helicopter was built of extremely light materials and the blades were set to rotate at over 2,500 revolutions per minute.

This flight demonstrated how oxygen (O₂) can be made from Mars' carbon dioxide (CO₂) atmosphere. A device called Moxie was able to generate 5g of O₂ - a sufficient amount of oygen for an astronaut on to breathe for 10 minutes.

Ingenuity has two cameras. A black-and-white camera points down to the ground and is used for navigation. A high-resolution colour camera looks out to the horizon.

The rotorcraft was taken to Mars in Nasa's Perseverance Rover, which touched down in Jezero Crater in February.

Confirmation of the successful first flight came via a Mars satellite which relayed the helicopter's data back to Earth.

Ingenuity made its second flight on Mars 22 April, expanding its flight operations as NASA considers more ambitious tests in the days ahead.

Related reading: Ingenuity Opens Way for Future Helicopter Flights on Mars

Christina Koch on Her Record

NASA astronaut Christina Koch made history Saturday, December 28 by breaking the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. 

Koch, a North Carolina State University graduate, has been on the International Space Station for 289 days, beating the previous 288-day record held by Peggy Whitson. She says that she hopes to see her record beaten by another woman soon.

Speaking of her time in space, Koch told CNN's Christi Paul, "It’s a wonderful thing for science... We see another aspect of how the human body is affected by microgravity for the long term, and that’s really important for our future spaceflight plan going forward to the moon and to Mars.”

According to NASA’s schedule, Koch will remain on the station until February 2020, falling just shy of the longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut: 340 days, set by Scott Kelly. Astronauts normally stay on the station for six months.

Mars Rover Curiosity

Curiosity's broken wheel

Credit: NASA

NASA's newest Mars rover, Curiosity, is beginning to show wear and breakage on its solid aluminum wheels. Curiosity had driven 9.9 miles (16 kilometers) on Mars since its August 2012 landing. The rover is currently exploring a region known as Vera Rubin Ridge on a mountain known as Mount Sharp. Read more here.

Some History about the Mars Rovers

NASA had a huge database of information about Mars because of the rovers that have landed there to explore and take samples of the air, dirt and rocks. The rovers send images and climate reports back to NASA headquarters. At the moment, NASA has more data about Mars than it has about planet Earth.

Mariner 4 arrived at Mars on July 14, 1965 and passed within 6,118 miles of the planet's surface. It provided 22 close-up photos showing the red planet's cratered surface. The thin atmosphere was confirmed to be composed of carbon dioxide and a small magnetic field was detected.

Mariner 9 arrived at Mars on November 3, 1971 and was the first US spacecraft to enter an orbit around a planet other than Earth. A huge dust storm was in progress when Mariner 9 arrived at Mars and this delayed many of the scientific experiments. Mariner returned the first hi-resolution images of the moons Phobos and Deimos and confirmed river and channel like features.

The Mars Pathfinder delivered a stationary lander and a surface rover to the Red Planet on July 4, 1997. The six-wheel rover, named Sojourner, explored the area near the lander. The mission's primary objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of low-cost landings on the Martian surface.

The Phoenix Mars Lander landed on Mars on May 25, 2008. Phoenix was designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic’s ice-rich soil. The solar-powered lander completed its three-month mission and kept working until sunlight waned two months later. The mission was officially ended in May 2010.

Read more about missions to Mars here. 

Science You Can Do During the Great American Eclipse

The 2017 solar eclipse that sweeps across the United States this August — which is being called the Great American Eclipse — will be the science highlight of the year. Whether you are an amateur or professional astronomer or an occasional stargazer, NASA is on the hunt for people eager to contribute to science during the eclipse.

Tyler Nordgren is an astronomy professor at the University of Redlands in California, who will give a talk on citizen science during the solar eclipse at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Boston next month. To do some experimenting, you need little more than a pair of solar eclipse glasses and a smart phone. Here are some of the experiments in which you can take part:

Tracking the moon's shadow. This experiment is great for elementary school kids. If you're lucky enough to see the eclipse in a mountainous area, you may see the moon making some nearby high landmarks dark before the solar eclipse reaches you. If you know how far away those landmarks are and if you have a phone or a smartwatch tracking the time, you can estimate how fast the moon's shadow moves across the landscape.

Read more here.

Related reading: The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017; Eclipses: Do You Know the Difference?