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By Jessica Barnett<\/em><\/p>\n For hundreds of team members at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center, \u201ceat, drink, and be merry\u201d was the afternoon theme for Dec. 7.<\/p>\n The center hosted a holiday celebration in Activities Building 4316, complete with food, door prizes, and plenty of opportunity to wish one happy holidays. Acting Center Director Joseph Pelfrey welcomed team members to the festivities with a brief recap of 2023 and look forward to 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cI was thrilled to see such an excellent turnout at the holiday reception,\u201d Pelfrey said after the reception. \u201cThis has been an exceptional year for us at Marshall, and it\u2019s important we take time this season to celebrate our successes and recharge for 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n Barnett, a Media Fusion employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n By Rick Smith<\/em><\/p>\n On Dec. 9, astronomers and physicists commemorated two years of landmark X-ray science by NASA\u2019s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission.<\/p>\n IXPE is the joint NASA-Italian Space Agency mission to study polarized X-ray light. Polarization is a characteristic of light that can help reveal information about where that light came from, such as the geometry and inner workings of the ultra-powerful energy sources from which it emanates.<\/p>\n Launched Dec. 9, 2021, IXPE orbits Earth some 340 miles high, studying X-ray emissions from powerful cosmic phenomena thousands to billions of light-years from Earth, including quasars, blazars, remnants of supernova explosions, and high-energy particle streams spewing from the vicinity of black holes at nearly the speed of light.<\/p>\n \u201cAdding X-ray polarization to our arsenal of radio, infrared, and optical polarization is a game changer,\u201d said Alan Marscher, a Boston University astronomer who leads a research group that uses IXPE\u2019s findings to analyze supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n Martin Weisskopf, the astrophysicist who led the development of IXPE at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center and served as its principal investigator until his retirement from NASA in spring 2022, agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThere can be no question that IXPE has shown that X-ray polarimetry is important and relevant to furthering our understanding of how these fascinating X-ray systems work,\u201d Weisskopf said.<\/p>\n Scientists have long understood, for example, the fundamentals of blazars such as Markarian 501 and Markarian 421. A blazar is a massive black hole feeding off material swirling around it in a disk, creating powerful jets of high-speed cosmic particles which rush away in two directions perpendicular to the disk. But how are those particles accelerated to such high energies? IXPE data published in November 2022 in the journal Nature identified the culprit at Markarian 501 as a shock wave within the jet.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a 40-year-old mystery that we\u2019ve solved,\u201d said Yannis Liodakis, a NASA Postdoctoral Program researcher at Marshall. \u201cWe finally had all of the pieces of the puzzle, and the picture they made was clear.\u201d<\/p>\n IXPE also conducted unprecedented studies of three supernova remnants \u2013 Cassiopeia A, Tycho, and SN 1006 \u2013 helping scientists further their understanding of the origin and processes of the magnetic fields surrounding these phenomena.<\/p>\n IXPE is even shedding new light on fundamental mechanisms of our own galaxy. According to studies IXPE conducted in early 2022, Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, woke up about 200 years ago to devour gas and other cosmic detritus, triggering an intense, short-lived X-ray flare. By combining data from IXPE, Chandra, and the European Space Agency\u2019s XMM-Newton mission, researchers determined the event occurred around the start of the 19th century.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know change can happen to active galaxies and supermassive black holes on a human timescale,\u201d said IXPE project scientist Steve Ehlert at Marshall. \u201cIXPE is helping us better understand the timescale on which the black hole at the center of our galaxy is changing. We\u2019re eager to observe it further to determine which changes are typical and which are unique.\u201d<\/p>\n IXPE also has supported observations of unanticipated cosmic events \u2013 such as the brightest pulse of intense radiation ever recorded, which swept through our solar system in October 2022. The pulse stemmed from a powerful gamma-ray burst likely to occur no more than once in 10,000 years, researchers said. Backing up data from NASA\u2019s Fermi Space Telescope and other imagers, IXPE helped determine how the pulse was organized and confirmed that Earth imagers viewed the jet almost directly head-on.<\/p>\n Perhaps most exciting to space scientists is how IXPE data is upending conventional wisdom about various classes of high-energy sources.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many of the polarized X-ray results we\u2019ve seen over the past two years were a big surprise, tossing theoretical models right out the window,\u201d Ehlert said. \u201cSeeing results we didn\u2019t anticipate sparks new questions, new theories. It\u2019s really exciting!\u201d<\/p>\n That excitement continues to build among IXPE partners around the world. In June, the mission was formally extended for 20 months beyond its initial two-year flight \u2013 meaning IXPE will continue to observe high-energy X-ray emissions across the cosmos through at least September 2025.<\/p>\n The new year also will mark the start of the IXPE General Observer Program, which invites astrophysicists and other space scientists around the world to propose and take part in studies using the IXPE telescope. Beginning in February 2024, as much as 80% of IXPE\u2019s time will be made available to the broader scientific community.<\/p>\n IXPE is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. Led at Marshall, IXPE\u2019s spacecraft operations are jointly managed by Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, and the University of Colorado\u2019s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.<\/p>\n Smith, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Dear Marshall family,<\/p>\n As 2023 comes to a close, my thoughts seem to be focused more than ever upon gratitude. As is true for many of you I\u2019m sure, I am so incredibly thankful for my loved ones, for good health for me and my loved ones, and for the life that I enjoy.<\/p>\n The life that I enjoy encompasses a great deal. I have a comfortable home, with heat for the winter, air conditioning for the summer, hot and cold water all year long, good food to eat, reliable vehicles to drive, nice clothes and shoes to wear, access to entertainment, the ability to be a part of a community, and I could go on and on. The point is, I have a great deal to be thankful for, and being thankful helps me to be more aware of the fact that many in our community and our world are not so fortunate. I hope that you, too, will take some time to consider the people, circumstances, and things for which you are grateful, and also to consider looking for opportunities to help those in our community who are less fortunate.<\/p>\n With the holidays upon us, this can be a very demanding time of year, and that can add a good deal of stress to our lives. The stressors of the season will be different for each of us, but some common ones include attending more parties and other events, hosting parties, being around people whom we would prefer to avoid, spending too much on gifts, and trying to make everything turn out perfectly.<\/p>\n Please be deliberate in taking good care of yourselves during the holiday season. That, too, will look different for everyone, but some tips include giving ourselves permission to get enough sleep and rest, setting a budget and sticking to it, striving for enjoyment rather than perfection, limiting our indulgence in all the good food of the season, not drinking to excess, and giving ourselves permission to say \u2018no\u2019 to things that will cause us to be stretched too thin or pushed beyond our limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n While we typically think of the holidays as a time of joy and celebration, it can also be a time of intense sadness, grief, and feeling overwhelmed. Pay attention to those around you and if you see opportunities to offer support, please do. The holidays are very family focused, and this can be especially difficult for those who have discord within their family, for those with little or no remaining family, or those who have lost loved ones over this past year. If you find yourself struggling, please reach out to those you trust, be that family members, friends, spiritual leaders, or counselors (including the Marshall Employee Assistance Program), for support. Don\u2019t suffer alone or in silence. It\u2019s OK to ask for help.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ll close with a couple of requests. First, please use your leave \u2013 take some time off to enjoy the holiday season, or just to go out and do something that you\u2019ve been wanting to do. Second, if you have leave that you can\u2019t use, please consider donating it to the leave bank. Donated leave makes a tremendous difference for those who have exhausted their own leave due to illness or accident, or to care for loved ones who are ill or recovering. Your generosity has the potential to help someone avoid the painful situation of having to take leave without pay.<\/p>\n Happy Holidays!\u00a0 Be safe and well.<\/p>\n Dr. Terry Sterry For more information, team members can visit the\u00a0<\/em>Employee Assistance Program<\/em>\u00a0page on Inside Marshall.<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n The elements of the super-heavy lift SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for NASA\u2019s\u00a0Artemis II mission\u00a0are undergoing final preparations before shipment to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center for stacking and pre-launch activities in 2024.<\/p>\n Teams at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center recently rotated the Orion stage adapter \u2013 a ring structure that connects NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft to the SLS rocket\u2019s\u00a0interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS)\u00a0\u2013 in preparation for the installation of its diaphragm. The installation Nov. 30 marks one of the final steps for the adapter before it is readied for shipment to Kennedy via NASA\u2019s Super Guppy cargo aircraft.<\/p>\n \u201cThe diaphragm is a composite, dome-shaped structure that isolates the volume above the ICPS from that below Orion,\u201d said Brent Gaddes, lead for the Orion stage adapter, in the Spacecraft\/Payload Integration & Evolution Office for the SLS Program at Marshall. \u201cIt serves as a barrier between the two, preventing the highly flammable hydrogen gas that could escape the rocket\u2019s propellant tanks from building up beneath the Orion spacecraft and its crew before and during launch.\u201d<\/p>\n At five feet tall and weighing in at 1,800 pounds, the adapter is the smallest major element of the SLS rocket that will produce more than 8.8 million pounds of thrust to launch four Artemis astronauts inside Orion around the Moon. The adapter is fully manufactured by engineering teams at Marshall.<\/p>\n \nIXPE Marks 2 Years of Groundbreaking X-ray Astronomy<\/strong><\/h2>\n
This Holiday Season, Take Care of Yourself and Others<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Licensed psychologist and Marshall Employee Assistance Program coordinator<\/p>\nNASA Teams Prepare Moon Rocket-to-Spacecraft Connector for Assembly<\/strong><\/h2>\n