NASA Mega Moon Rocket Passes Key Test, Readies for Launch
The largest rocket element NASA has ever built, the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, fired its four RS-25 engines for 8 minutes and 19 seconds March 18 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The successful test, known as a hot fire, is a critical milestone ahead of the agency’s Artemis I mission, which will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon and back to Earth, paving the way for future Artemis missions with astronauts.
NASA, Partners Test 3D-Printed Rocket Pad Designed by Students
A team of students from colleges and universities across the United States – members of the Artemis Generation – tested a 3D-printed launch and landing pad to see how it holds up to a hot rocket engine March 6 at Camp Swift in Bastrop, Texas. The students’ design concept – called the Lunar Plume Alleviation Device, or Lunar PAD – aims to solve problems caused by lunar dust kicked up during launches and landings.
Marshall Celebrates 20 years of Science Central Operations
Since March 8, 2001, the Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, has provided 24/7 support for International Space Station science operations. The Payload Operations Integration Center’s unique capabilities allow science experts and researchers to perform cutting-edge science in the unique microgravity environment of space.
Serendipitous Juno Spacecraft Detections Shatter Ideas About Origin of Zodiacal Light
Look up to the night sky just before dawn, or after dusk, and you might see a faint column of light extending up from the horizon. That luminous glow is the zodiacal light, or sunlight reflected toward Earth by a cloud of tiny dust particles orbiting the Sun. Astronomers have long thought that the dust is brought into the inner solar system by a few of the asteroid and comet families that venture in from afar. But now, a team of Juno scientists argues that Mars may be the culprit.
Marshall Payload Operations Increase Capabilities, to Play Vital Role in Multiple Future NASA Missions
Long renowned for its work with the International Space Station, Marshall’s payload operations have grown to support multiple missions. The group is preparing to support NASA missions on and around the Moon and Mars over the next 10-15 years.
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.