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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

Apr 14, 2023
Article

Contents

Week of April 10 – April 14, 2023

This image of the Crab Nebula combines data from NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in magenta and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in dark purple.
A new composite image of the Crab Nebula features X-rays from Chandra (blue and white), optical data from Hubble (purple), and infrared data from Spitzer (pink). Chandra has repeatedly observed the Crab since the telescope was launched into space in 1999. The Crab Nebula is powered by a quickly spinning, highly magnetized neutron star called a pulsar, which was formed when a massive star ran out of its nuclear fuel and collapsed. The combination of rapid rotation and a strong magnetic field in the Crab generates an intense electromagnetic field that creates jets of matter and anti-matter moving away from both the north and south poles of the pulsar, and an intense wind flowing out in the equatorial direction.

Historic Nebula Seen Like Never Before With NASA’s IXPE

On Feb. 22, 1971, a sounding rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with specialized sensors aimed at the Crab Nebula, a bright cosmic object 6,500 light-years away. Decades later, astronomer Martin Weisskopf proposed the development of an Earth-orbiting satellite with powerful instruments that could gather much more detailed measurements of the same kind about the Crab Nebula and other mysterious cosmic objects. That satellite became NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which launched on December 9, 2021.

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, middle, and Dr. Quincy K. Brown, front right, senior policy advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, are shown the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket by Jennifer Boland-Masterson, left, director of manufacturing and site leader at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility for Boeing, during a March 31 visit to Michoud in New Orleans. They are accompanied by Michoud Facility Director Lonnie Dutreix, back right. The 212-foot-tall core stage and its four RS-25 engines will help power NASA’s Artemis II flight test, the first crewed Artemis mission that will send four astronauts around the Moon and return them home to test the spacecraft in deep space ahead of lunar surface missions. Teams at Michoud recently integrated the last of the five major core stage structures and unboxed the four RS-25 engines. NASA and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, along with Aerojet Rocketdyne, the RS-25 engine lead contractor, are preparing to install the engines to the base of the rocket’s core stage. The core stage and its RS-25 engines produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust at launch.

NASA is working to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration, along with Orion and the Gateway in orbit around the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission.

NASA/Michael DeMocker

NASA Deputy Administrator Melroy Views Artemis II Core Stage at Michoud

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy visited the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on March 31. She viewed the 212-foot-tall Space Launch System (SLS) core stage, which along with four RS-25 engines will help power NASA’s Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission.

A black background with stars shining throughout that range in size and color from white to gold and almost orange.
By analyzing new observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a team led by Simon Lilly of ETH Zürich in Switzerland found evidence that galaxies that existed 900 million years after the big bang ionized the gas around them, causing it to become transparent. They also used Webb to precisely measure the gas around the galaxies, identifying that “bubbles” of ionized gas have a 2 million light-year radius around the tiny galaxies. Over the next hundred million years, the bubbles grew larger and larger, eventually merging and causing the entire universe to become transparent.
NASA, ESA, CSA, Simon Lilly (ETH Zürich), Daichi Kashino (Nagoya University), Jorryt Matthee (ETH Zürich), Christina Eilers (MIT), Rob Simcoe (MIT), Rongmon Bordoloi (NCSU), Ruari Mackenzie (ETH Zürich); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Ruari Macken

Webb Shows Areas of New Star Formation and Galactic Evolution

On Oct. 11, 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope spent over 20 hours observing the long-studied Hubble Ultra Deep Field for the first time. Learn more from the team learn involved with the first observation of the field through Webb’s eyes.

TOPS logo on white background
TOPS logo on white background

NASA Boosts Open Science through Innovative Training

NASA is awarding a total of $6.5 million to U.S. institutions for education and training in open science. The promise of open science is that NASA research and data should be more collaborative, accessible, inclusive, and transparent for everyone from the scientist and student to the city manager and citizen.

On April 8, 2023 NASA’s Juno mission completed its 50th close pass by Jupiter since the spacecraft arrived at the giant planet in 2016.
On April 8, 2023 NASA’s Juno mission completed its 50th close pass by Jupiter since the spacecraft arrived at the giant planet in 2016.

NASA’s Juno Mission Marks 50 Orbits Around Jupiter

On April 8, 2023, NASA’s Juno mission completed its 50th close pass by Jupiter since the spacecraft arrived at the giant planet in 2016. In celebration of 50 orbits, a new graphic contains 50 images that provide just a small sampling of the data Juno has returned so far, including images from several different instruments, and spectacular views of Earth, Jupiter, and Jupiter’s large moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io.

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.