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In Case You Missed It: A Weekly Summary of Top Content from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

The headshot image of Beth Ridgeway

Beth Ridgeway

Sep 30, 2022
Article

Contents

Week of September 26 – September 30

The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by the DRACO imager on NASA’s DART mission from ~7 miles from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. The image shows a patch of the asteroid that is 100 feet across.
The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by the DRACO imager on NASA’s DART mission from ~7 miles (12 kilometers) from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. The image shows a patch of the asteroid that is 100 feet (31 meters) across. Ecliptic north is toward the bottom of the image. This image is shown as it appears on the DRACO detector and is mirror flipped across the x-axis from reality. Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL

DART’s Final Images Prior to Impact

After 10 months flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration – successfully impacted its asteroid target Dimorphos on Sept. 26. During the spacecraft’s final moments before impact, its imager took four images capturing its terminal approach as Dimorphos increasingly fills the field of view.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher as it returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building from Launch Pad 39B, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher as it returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building from Launch Pad 39B, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA made the decision to rollback based on the latest weather predictions associated with Hurricane Ian. NASA’s Artemis I mission is the first integrated test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and supporting ground systems. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA’s Moon Rocket and Spacecraft Arrive at Vehicle Assembly Building

On Sept. 27, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission were secured inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center after a  4-mile journey from Launch Pad 39B that began at Sept. 26 ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ian.

One of the four RS-25 engines that will help power Artemis II.
Teams have delivered the four RS-25 engines that will help power Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis missions and second flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Later this fall, the engines will be installed into the Artemis II core stage, which is in the final phase of assembly at Michoud where it was manufactured. Credits: NASA/ Michael DeMocker

Artemis II Rocket Engines Arrive at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility

Teams have delivered the four RS-25 engines that will help power Artemis II, the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis missions and second flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Later this fall, the engines will be installed into the Artemis II core stage, which is in the final phase of assembly at Michoud where it was manufactured.

The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission arrives at the hangar at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Sept. 23, 2022.
The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission arrives at the hangar at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Sept. 23, 2022. The capsule arrived at the launch complex after making the short journey from its nearby processing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credits: SpaceX

NASA Shifts Crew-5 Launch Date Due to Hurricane Ian

NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than  11 a.m. CDT Wednesday, Oct. 5, for the launch of the agency’s Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station with a U.S. Eastern Range backup date on Oct. 7. Mission teams continue to monitor the impacts of Hurricane Ian on the Space Coast and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and could adjust the launch date again, as necessary. 

Shown here in purple, the corona stretches more than 100,000 light-years from the main mass of stars, gas, and dust that make up the Magellanic Clouds
Researchers have used spectroscopic observations of ultraviolet light from quasars to detect and map out the Magellanic Corona, a diffuse halo of hot, supercharged gas surrounding the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. Shown here in purple, the corona stretches more than 100,000 light-years from the main mass of stars, gas, and dust that make up the Magellanic Clouds, intermingling with the hotter and more extensive corona that surrounds the Milky Way. The Magellanic Clouds, dwarf galaxies roughly 160,000 light-years from Earth, are the largest of the Milky Way’s satellites and are thought to be on their first in-falling passage around the Milky Way. This journey has begun to unravel what were once barred spirals with multiple arms into more irregular-shaped galaxies with long tails of debris. The corona is thought to act as a buffer protecting the dwarf galaxies’ vital star-forming gas from the gravitational pull of the much larger Milky Way. The detection of the Magellanic Corona was made by analyzing patterns in ultraviolet light from 28 distant background quasars. As the quasar light passes through the corona, certain wavelengths (colors) of ultraviolet light are absorbed. The quasar spectra become imprinted with the distinct signatures of carbon, oxygen, and silicon ions that make up the corona gas. Because each quasar probes a different part of the corona, the research team was also able to show that the amount of gas decreases with distance from the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This study used archival observations of quasars from Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). Quasars have also been used to probe the Magellanic Stream, outflows from the Milky Way , and the halo surrounding the Andromeda Galaxy. Credits: STScI, Leah Hustak

Hubble Detects Protective Shield Defending a Pair of Dwarf Galaxies

For billions of years, the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxies – the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – have followed a perilous journey. Orbiting one another as they are pulled in toward our home galaxy, they have begun to unravel, leaving behind trails of gaseous debris. And yet – to the puzzlement of astronomers – these dwarf galaxies remain intact, with ongoing vigorous star formation. 

For more information or to learn about other happenings at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit NASA Marshall. For past issues of the ICYMI newsletter, click here.