The world’s first-ever planetary protection take a look at is a giant hit …
A significant hurricane noticed from area …
And shifting NASA’s mega Moon rocket again inside forward of that storm … a couple of of the tales to let you know about – This Week at NASA!
Successful Impact for First-Ever Planetary Defense Test
On September 26, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART spacecraft efficiently impacted Dimorphos – the asteroid the spacecraft had been on a collision course with for about 10 months.
“Waiting … (applause) … and we have impact!”
DART’s intentional crash into Dimorphos, a moonlet of a bigger asteroid known as Didymos, was an try to change the course of an asteroid in area as a part of the world’s first planetary protection know-how demonstration. The DART group will observe Dimorphos with ground-based telescopes to substantiate that the approach, referred to as kinetic affect, did certainly alter the moonlet’s orbit round Didymos. The cosmic collision was really captured by NASA’s Hubble and Webb area telescopes, marking the primary time that Webb and Hubble noticed the identical celestial goal on the similar time. Neither of those asteroids is a risk to Earth, however this system may show to be a dependable solution to alter the course of an asteroid that’s on a collision course with Earth sooner or later.
Hurricane Ian Seen from the Space Station
On September 26, exterior cameras aboard the International Space Station captured views of Hurricane Ian simply south of Cuba because the storm moved towards the north-northwest. As anticipated, Ian intensified because it approached Florida. Space station cameras caught the storm once more on September 28 because it was making landfall in southwest Florida as a Category four storm with winds upward of 155 mph and a probably catastrophic storm surge.
Artemis I Rocket Rolled Back Inside Ahead of Hurricane Ian
On the night time of September 26, the group at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center started shifting the Artemis I Moon rocket from launch pad 39B again to the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft had been secured contained in the VAB the subsequent morning. Managers selected the “roll back” resulting from climate predictions associated to Hurricane Ian. In addition to defending the built-in rocket and spacecraft, in addition they needed to present workers time to deal with the wants of their households forward of the storm.
Juno’s Close Flyby of Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa
The spacecraft for NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter made a close flyby of the planet’s ice-covered moon, Europa on September 29. This image from the pass, some 220 miles above Europa’s surface, is the first to come of some of the highest-resolution images ever taken of portions of the moon. Valuable data are also expected from the flyby that, once processed, could benefit and inform future missions, like the agency’s Europa Clipper mission, which is targeted to launch in 2024 to study the icy moon. More information is available at: nasa.gov/juno.
As NASA prepares to ship people again to the Moon and past to Mars, inflatable habitats are concepts being considered for Lunar Surface Habitats and Mars Transit Habitats. Burst pressure tests are necessary to meet human safety certification, and engineers use them to determine the ability of the habitat to withstand internal pressure and the maximum internal pressure required to cause failure of the habitat’s woven, structural shell. The test, conducted in collaboration with Sierra Space and ILC Dover, took place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as part of the NextSTEP-2 Habitat Systems contract managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Inflatable Habitat Burst Pressure Test
Believe it or not, these inflatable habitats are being blown up to help make them safe for humans. Habitats like these could be used to house astronauts on future long-term surface exploration missions to the Moon and, eventually Mars. But before then, NASA and commercial partners are conducting burst pressure tests to determine the maximum internal pressure these habitats can safely withstand before they fail.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA …