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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 10, 2023
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A Weekly Summary of Top Content from Marshall, March 6 – March 10, 2023.

Week of March 6 – March 10, 2023

Technicians examine Orion's heat shield as part of post-flight analysis.

Analysis Confirms Successful Artemis I Moon Mission, Reviews Continue

NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I flight test proved the agency’s deep space rocket, spacecraft, and the ground systems needed for launch and recovery are ready to fly astronauts on missions to the Moon. Since the 2022 flight, engineers have extensively reviewed data to confirm initial observations from the successful mission of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft on its 1.4 million-mile mission beyond the Moon.

This image shows the Vela pulsar wind nebula. Light blue represents X-ray polarization data from NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Pink and purple colors correspond to data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray observatory.

Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula Takes Flight in New Image From NASA’s IXPE

About 10,000 years ago, light from the explosion of a giant star in the constellation Vela arrived at Earth. This supernova left behind a dense object called a pulsar, which appears to brighten regularly as it spins, like a cosmic lighthouse. From the surface of this pulsar, winds of particles emerge that travel near the speed of light, creating a chaotic hodgepodge of charged particles and magnetic fields that crash into surrounding gas. This phenomenon is called a pulsar wind nebula.

This scanning electron microscopic image shows a biofilm, colored to show cells of Staphylococcus capitis (round orange knobs) embedded in the biofilm matrix (larger blue rod-shaped figure).

Research Flying to Station on SpaceX CRS-27

NASA’s 27th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida later this month. The scientific experiments and technology demonstrations carried by the uncrewed Dragon spacecraft will examine how the heart changes in space, test a student-designed camera mount, compare surfaces that control biofilm formation, and more.

This image features a galaxy called 3C 297 that is lonelier than expected after it likely pulled in and absorbed its former companion galaxies,

Chandra Helps Astronomers Discover Surprisingly Lonely Galaxy

A new image features a galaxy called 3C 297 that is lonelier than expected after it likely pulled in and absorbed its former companion galaxies. The solo galaxy is located about 9.2 billion light-years from Earth. This result, made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the International Gemini Observatory, may push the limits for how quickly astronomers expect galaxies to grow in the early universe.

NASA conducts an RS-25 hot fire test on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi on March 8, 2023.

NASA Continues Test Series for Redesigned Artemis Moon Rocket Engines

NASA’s testing for redesigned RS-25 engines to be used on future Space Launch System (SLS) missions continued with a March 8 full-duration hot fire at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It was the third test since an upgraded nozzle was installed on the RS-25 engine just prior to a Feb 8 hot fire.

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.