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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

Mar 31, 2023
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A Weekly Summary of Top Content from Marshall, March 27 – March 31, 2023.

Week of March 27 – March 31, 2023

Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the cosmos. Astronomers think most occur when the core of a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, collapses under its own weight, and forms a black hole, as illustrated in this animation.

NASA Missions Study What May Be a 1-In-10,000-Year Gamma-ray Burst

On Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, a pulse of intense radiation swept through the solar system so exceptional that astronomers quickly dubbed it the BOAT – the brightest of all time. The source was a gamma-ray burst, the most powerful class of explosions in the universe.

This illustration shows what the hot rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b could look like based on this work.

NASA’s Webb Measures Temperature of Rocky Exoplanet

An international team of researchers has used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b. The measurement is based on the planet’s thermal emission: heat energy given off in the form of infrared light detected by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument.

A composite closeup of the bright center of spiral galaxy NGC 253.

Chandra Determines What Makes a Galaxy’s Wind Blow

Wind can have a big impact on the ecology and environment of a galaxy, just like on Earth, but on much larger and more dramatic scales. A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the effects of powerful winds launched from the center of a nearby galaxy, NGC 253, located 11.4 million light-years from Earth.

NASA conducted a long-duration hot fire test of an RS-25 certification engine March 21 on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center

NASA Rocket Engines Reengineered, Production Restarted for Next Era of Exploration

NASA propulsion and test teams are setting their sights on future Space Launch System (SLS) flights and working to improve one of the world’s most powerful and reliable rocket engines for missions beginning with Artemis V. A series of hot fire certification tests is in progress at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, for a redesigned RS-25 engine to support production of additional engines for future SLS flights after NASA’s current inventory of the engine is expended.

Students are using print-assisted photovoltaic assembly technology developed by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Bringing NASA Technology into the Classroom

Students at the University of Idaho are advancing NASA technology that could improve wildfire spotting and farmland monitoring. Through NASA’s Technology Transfer University, students are looking at two NASA technologies for inspiration: print-assisted photovoltaic assembly, developed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag, developed at Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

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.