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By Rick Smith<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe art of aerospace engineering is a matter of seeing around corners,\u201d said NASA thermal analyst Jodi Turk. In the case of NASA\u2019s\u00a0Chandra X-ray Observatory, marking its 25th anniversary in space this year, some of those corners proved to be as far as 80,000 miles away and a quarter-century in the future.<\/p>\n Turk is part of a dedicated team of engineers, designers, test technicians, and analysts at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center. Together with partners outside and across the agency, including the Chandra Operations Control Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, they keep the spacecraft flying, enabling Chandra\u2019s ongoing studies of black holes, supernovae, dark matter, and more \u2013 and deepening our understanding of the origin and evolution of the cosmos.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything Chandra has shown us over the last 25 years \u2013 the formation of galaxies and\u00a0super star clusters, the behavior and evolution of\u00a0supermassive black holes, proof of\u00a0dark matter\u00a0and\u00a0gravitational wave events, the viability of\u00a0habitable exoplanets\u00a0\u2013 has been fascinating,\u201d said retired NASA astrophysicist Martin Weisskopf, who led Chandra scientific development at Marshall beginning in the late 1970s. \u201cChandra has opened new windows in astrophysics that we\u2019d hardly begun to imagine in the years prior to launch.\u201d<\/p>\n Following extensive\u00a0development and testing\u00a0by a contract team managed and led by Marshall, Chandra was lifted to space aboard the space shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999. Marshall has continued to manage the program for NASA ever since.<\/p>\n \u201cHow much technology from 1999 is still in use today?\u201d said Chandra researcher Douglas Swartz. \u201cWe don\u2019t use the same camera equipment, computers, or phones from that era. But one technological success \u2013 Chandra \u2013 is still going strong, and still so powerful that it can read a stop sign from 12 miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n That lasting value is no accident. During early concept development, Chandra \u2013 known prior to launch as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility \u2013 was intended to be a 15-year, serviceable mission like that of NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope, enabling periodic upgrades by visiting astronauts.<\/p>\n But in the early 1990s, as NASA laid plans to build the\u00a0International Space Station\u00a0in orbit, the new X-ray observatory\u2019s budget was revised. A new, elliptical orbit would carry Chandra a third of the way to the Moon, or roughly 80,000 miles from Earth at apogee. That meant a shorter mission life \u2013 five years \u2013 and no periodic servicing.<\/p>\n The engineering design team at Marshall, its contractors, and the mission support team at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory revised their plan, minimizing the impact to Chandra\u2019s science. In doing so, they enabled a long-running science mission so successful that it would capture the imagination of the nation and lead NASA to extend its duration past that initial five-year period.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of excitement and a lot of challenges \u2013 but we met them and conquered them,\u201d said Marshall project engineer David Hood, who joined the Chandra development effort in 1988.<\/p>\n \u201cThe field of high-powered X-ray astronomy was still so relatively young, it wasn\u2019t just a matter of building a revolutionary observatory,\u201d\u00a0Weisskopf\u00a0said. \u201cFirst, we had to build the tools necessary to test, analyze, and refine the hardware.\u201d<\/p>\n Marshall renovated and expanded its X-ray Calibration Facility \u2013 now known as the\u00a0X-ray & Cryogenic Facility\u00a0\u2013 to calibrate Chandra\u2019s instruments and conduct space-like environment testing of sensitive hardware. That work would, years later, pave the way for Marshall testing of advanced mirror optics for NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope.<\/p>\n \u201cMarshall has a proven history of designing for long-term excellence and extending our lifespan margins,\u201d Turk said. \u201cOur missions often tend to last well past their end date.\u201d<\/p>\n Chandra is a case in point. The team has automated some of Chandra\u2019s operations for efficiency. They also closely monitor key elements of the spacecraft, such as its thermal protection system, which have degraded as anticipated over time, due to the punishing effects of the space environment.<\/p>\n \u201cChandra\u2019s still a workhorse, but one that needs gentler handling,\u201d Turk said. The team met that challenge by meticulously modeling and tracking Chandra\u2019s position and behavior in orbit and paying close attention to radiation, changes in momentum, and other obstacles. They have also employed creative approaches, making use of data from sensors on the spacecraft in new ways.<\/p>\n Acting project manager Andrew Schnell, who leads the Chandra team at Marshall, said the mission\u2019s length means the spacecraft is now overseen by numerous \u201cthird-generation engineers\u201d such as Turk. He said they\u2019re just as dedicated and driven as their senior counterparts, who helped deliver Chandra to launch 25 years ago.<\/p>\n The work also provides a one-of-a-kind teaching opportunity, Turk said. \u201cTroubleshooting Chandra has taught us how to find alternate solutions for everything from an interrupted sensor reading to aging thermocouples, helping us more accurately diagnose issues with other flight hardware and informing design and planning for future missions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Well-informed, practically trained engineers and scientists are foundational to productive teams, Hood said \u2013 a fact so crucial to Chandra\u2019s success that its project leads and support engineers documented the experience in a paper titled, \u201cLessons We Learned Designing and Building the Chandra Telescope.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFormer program manager Fred Wojtalik said it best: \u2018Teams win,\u2019\u201d Hood said. \u201cThe most important person on any team is the person doing their work to the best of their ability, with enthusiasm and pride. That\u2019s why I\u2019m confident Chandra\u2019s still got some good years ahead of her. Because that foundation has never changed.\u201d<\/p>\n As Chandra turns the corner on its silver anniversary, the team on the ground is ready for whatever fresh challenge comes next.<\/p>\n Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission.<\/p>\n Smith, an Aeyon\/MTS employee, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n By Wayne Smith<\/em><\/p>\n Investigators at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center will use observations from a recently launched sounding rocket mission to provide a clearer image of how and why the Sun\u2019s corona grows so much hotter than the visible surface of Earth\u2019s parent star. The MaGIXS-2 mission \u2013 short for the second flight of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer \u2013 launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on July 16.<\/p>\n The mission\u2019s goal is to determine the heating mechanisms in active regions on the Sun by making critical observations using X-ray spectroscopy.<\/p>\n The Sun\u2019s surface temperature is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit \u2013 but the corona routinely measures more than 1.8 million degrees, with active regions measuring up to 5 million degrees.<\/p>\n Amy Winebarger, Marshall heliophysicist and principal investigator for the MaGIXS missions, said studying the X-rays from the Sun sheds light on what\u2019s happening in the solar atmosphere \u2013 which, in turn, directly impacts Earth and the entire solar system.<\/p>\n X-ray spectroscopy provides unique capabilities for answering fundamental questions in solar physics and for potentially predicting the onset of energetic eruptions on the Sun like solar flares or coronal mass ejections. These violent outbursts can interfere with communications satellites and electronic systems, even causing physical drag on satellites as Earth\u2019s atmosphere expands to absorb the added solar energy.<\/p>\n \u201cLearning more about these solar events and being able to predict them are the kind of things we need to do to better live in this solar system with our Sun,\u201d Winebarger said.<\/p>\n The NASA team retrieved the payload immediately after the flight and has begun processing datasets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have these active regions on the Sun, and these areas are very hot, much hotter than even the rest of the corona,\u201d said Patrick Champey, deputy principal investigator at Marshall for the mission. \u201cThere\u2019s been a big question \u2013 how are these regions heated? We previously determined it could relate to how often energy is released. The X-rays are particularly sensitive to this frequency number, and so we built an instrument to look at the X-ray spectra and disentangle the data.\u201d<\/p>\n Following a successful July 2021 launch of the first MaGIXS mission, Marshall and its partners refined instrumentation for MaGIXS-2 to provide a broader view for observing the Sun\u2019s X-rays. Marshall engineers developed and fabricated the telescope and spectrometer mirrors, and the camera. The integrated instrument was exhaustively tested in Marshall\u2019s state-of-the-art X-ray & Cryogenic Facility. For MaGIXS-2, the team refined the same mirrors used on the first flight, with a much larger aperture and completed the testing at Marshall\u2019s Stray Light Test Facility.<\/p>\n A Marshall project from inception, technology developments for MaGIXS include the low-noise CCD camera, high-resolution X-ray optics, calibration methods, and more.<\/p>\n Winebarger and Champey said MaGIXS many of the team members started their NASA careers with the project, learning to take on lead roles and benefitting from mentorship.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s probably the most critical thing, aside from the technology, for being successful,\u201d Winebarger said. \u201cIt\u2019s very rare that you get from concept to flight in a few years. A young engineer can go all the way to flight, come to White Sands to watch it launch, and retrieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA routinely uses sounding rockets for\u00a0brief, focused science missions. They\u2019re often smaller, more affordable, and faster to design and build than large-scale satellite missions, Winebarger said.\u00a0Sounding rockets\u00a0carry scientific instruments into space along a parabolic trajectory. Their overall time in space is brief, typically five minutes, and at lower vehicle speeds for a well-placed scientific experiment.<\/p>\n The MaGIXS mission was developed at Marshall in partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Sounding Rockets Program Office, located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center\u2019s\u00a0Wallops Flight Facility, provides suborbital launch vehicles, payload development, and field operations support to NASA and other government agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smith, a Media Fusion employee and the Marshall Star editor, supports the Marshall Office of Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Members of the Artemis II crew met with the crew of NASA\u2019s Pegasus barge prior to their\u00a0departure to deliver the core stage\u00a0of NASA\u2019s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket to the Space Coast.<\/p>\n NASA astronaut and pilot of the Artemis II mission Victor Glover met the crew July 15. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, commander, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist, visited the barge July 16 shortly before the flight hardware was loaded onto it.<\/p>\n Pegasus is currently transporting the SLS core stage from NASA\u2019s Michoud Assembly Facility to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, where it will be integrated and prepared for launch. During the Artemis II test flight, the core stage with its four RS-25 engines will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help send the Artemis II crew around the Moon.<\/p>\n Pegasus, which was previously used to ferry space shuttle tanks, was modified and refurbished to ferry the SLS rocket\u2019s massive core stage. At 212 feet in length and 27.6 feet in diameter, the Moon rocket stage is more than 50 feet longer than the space shuttle external tank.<\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n How do you move\u00a0NASA\u2019s SLS (Space Launch System)\u00a0rocket\u2019s massive 212-foot-long core stage across the country? You do it with a 300-foot-long barge. However, NASA\u2019s Pegasus barge isn\u2019t just any barge. It\u2019s a vessel with a history, and John Campbell, a logistics engineer for the agency based at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center, is one of the few people who get to be a part of its legacy.<\/p>\n For Campbell, this journey is more than just a job \u2013 it\u2019s a lifelong passion realized. \u201cEver since I was a boy, I\u2019ve been fascinated by engineering,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to be entrusted with managing NASA\u2019s Pegasus barge, transporting history-making hardware for human spaceflight across state lines and waterways \u2013 is something I never imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA has used barges to ferry the large and heavy hardware elements of its rockets since the Apollo Program. Replacing the agency\u2019s Poseidon and Orion barges, Pegasus was originally crafted for the Space Shuttle Program and updated in recent years to help usher in the Artemis Generation and accommodate the mammoth dimensions of the SLS core stage. The barge plays a big role in NASA\u2019s logistical operations, navigating rivers and coastal waters across the Southeast, and has transported key structural test hardware for SLS in recent years.<\/p>\n Campbell grew up in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in mechanical engineering, he ventured south to Panama City, Florida, where he spent a few years with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning consulting team. Looking for an opportunity to move home, he applied for and landed a contractor position with NASA and soon moved to his current civil service role.<\/p>\n With 17 years under his belt, Campbell has many fond memories during his time with the agency. One standout moment was witnessing the space shuttle stacked in the Vehicle Assembly Building at\u00a0NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. But it\u2019s not all about rockets and launch pads for Campbell. When he isn\u2019t in his office making sure\u00a0Pegasus has everything it needs for its next trip out, he is on the water accompanying important pieces of hardware to their next destinations. With eight trips on Pegasus under his belt, the journey never gets old.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is something peaceful when you look out and it\u2019s just you, the water, one or two other boats, and wildlife,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cOn one trip we had a pod of at least 20 dolphins surrounding us. You get to see all kinds of cool wildlife and scenery.\u201d<\/p>\n From cherishing special moments like this to ensuring the success of each journey, Campbell recognizes the vital role he plays in the agency\u2019s goals to travel back to the Moon and beyond and does not take his responsibility lightly.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be a part of the\u00a0Artemis campaign\u00a0and the future of space is just cool. I was there when the barge underwent its transformation to accommodate the colossal core stage, and in that moment, I realized I was witnessing history unfold. Though I couldn\u2019t be present at the launch of Artemis I, watching it on TV was an emotional experience. To see something you\u2019ve been a part of, something you\u2019ve watched evolve from mere components to a giant spacecraft hurtling into space \u2013 it\u2019s a feeling beyond words.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA is working to land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon under Artemis. SLS is part of NASA\u2019s backbone for deep space exploration, along with the Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, advanced spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.<\/p>\n Marshall manages the SLS Program.<\/p>\n Read other I am Artemis features.<\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n By <\/em>Derek Koehl<\/em><\/p>\n For the last six months, NASA\u2019s Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) foundation model development team at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center, has been joined by \u00deorsteinn El\u00ed G\u00edslason, a visiting graduate student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville from the University of Iceland.<\/p>\n His participation on the Prithvi geospatial foundation model, an open-source geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model for Earth observation data, was part of a collaboration partnership between NASA, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), the University of Iceland, and the J\u00fclich Supercomputing Centre in Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich, Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n The goal of the collaboration was to share expertise and knowledge across institutions in an open and synergetic way. This partnership serves as a pathfinder for students to work on an international collaborative project and provides extensive research opportunities to graduate students like El\u00ed in fields such as AI foundation models and high-performance computing (HPC).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEl\u00ed demonstrated exceptional support in running experiments on the geospatial foundation model, showcasing his expertise and dedication,\u201d said Sujit Roy, G\u00edslason\u2019s mentor and IMPACT FM team lead from UAH. \u201cI loved one specific quality of El\u00ed, that he asks a lot of questions and puts effort into understanding the problem statement.\u201d<\/p>\n G\u00edslason was instrumental in helping the team overcome the hoops and hurdles involved when pre-training a foundation model on a high-performance computing system. His ability to understand models and scale them to multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) was an instrumental skill for the project. He facilitated scripts and simulations to run seamlessly over multiple nodes and GPUs, optimizing resources and accelerating research outcomes. Additionally, El\u00ed\u2019s adeptness in running these models on high-performance computing systems significantly enhanced the team\u2019s computational efficiency. G\u00edslason also contributed his knowledge of the J\u00fclich Supercomputing Centre\u2019s HPC systems and served an important role with respect to the Centre\u2019s operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n By helping the team overcome the challenges of pre-training, G\u00edslason\u2019s interest in AI models expanded.<\/p>\n \u201cFor as long as I can remember, I\u2019ve been interested in programming and computers. I\u2019ve always found it fun to apply programming to a problem I\u2019m facing, especially if it has the opportunity to reduce the overall work required,\u201d said G\u00edslason. \u201cAI, machine learning, and deep learning are just advanced forms of this interest. These models capture my interest in that they are able to solve problems by capturing patterns that don\u2019t have to be explicitly defined beforehand.\u201d<\/p>\n G\u00edslason\u2019s work with IMPACT supports his master\u2019s thesis in computational engineering at the University of Iceland. His graduate work builds on his Bachelor of Science in physics.\u00a0<\/p>\n This collaboration was facilitated by Gabriele Cavallaro from J\u00fclich Supercomputing Center and Manil Maskey, IMPACT deputy project manager and research scientist at Marshall.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOpen science thrives on sharing expertise, and artificial intelligence encompasses a vast field requiring knowledge across many areas,\u201d Maskey said. \u201cEl\u00ed provided one of the key expertise areas crucial to our project. This collaboration was mutually beneficial- our foundation model project gained from his specialized knowledge, while El\u00ed gained valuable technical skills and experience as part of a major NASA project.\u201d<\/p>\n IMPACT is managed by Marshall and is part of the center\u2019s Earth Science branch. The collaboration was conducted through the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Earth Science Informatics Technical Committee. Along with IMPACT and Marshall, development of the Prithvi geospatial foundation model featured significant contributions from NASA\u2019s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer, IBM Research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.<\/p>\n Koehl is a research associate at the University of Alabama in Huntsville supporting IMPACT.<\/em><\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Most casual skywatchers know the bright, busy Perseids meteor shower arrives in late July and peaks in mid-August. Fewer are likely to name-drop the Southern delta Aquariids, which overlap with the Perseids each summer and are typically outshone by their brighter counterparts, especially when the Moon washes out the Southern delta Aquariids.<\/p>\n This year, with the Southern delta Aquariids set to peak on the night of July 28, the underdog shower isn\u2019t likely to deliver any surprises. Unless you\u2019re below the equator, it\u2019ll take a keen eye to spot one.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Southern delta Aquariids have a very strong presence on meteor radars which can last for weeks,\u201d said NASA astronomer Bill Cooke, who leads the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center. \u201cSadly, for most observers in the Northern Hemisphere, they\u2019re difficult to spot with the naked eye, requiring the darkest possible skies.\u201d<\/p>\n Meteor watchers \u2013 particularly those in the southern United States and points south \u2013 will be best served to check out the night sky July 28-29 before moonrise at 2 a.m.<\/p>\n During peak shower activity, under ideal viewing conditions with no Moon in the sky, casual watchers may see 2-5 meteors per hour, flashing into view at speeds of 25 miles per second. A small percentage of these may leave glowing, ionized gas trails that linger visibly for a second or two after the meteor has passed. But most of the noticeable activity for the Southern delta Aquariids occurs over a couple of days around its peak, so don\u2019t expect to see any past the end of July.<\/p>\n You can distinguish Southern delta Aquariids meteors from the Perseids by identifying their radiant, or the point in the sky from which a meteor appears to originate. Southern delta Aquariids appear to come from the direction of the constellation of Aquarius, hence the name. The Perseids\u2019 radiant is in the constellation of Perseus in the northern sky.<\/p>\n Most astronomers agree the Southern delta Aquariids originate from Comet 96P\/Machholz, which orbits the Sun every 5.3 years. Discovered by Donald Machholz in 1986, the comet\u2019s nucleus is roughly 4 miles across \u2013 about half the size of the object suspected to have wiped out the dinosaurs. Researchers think debris causing the Southern delta Aquariid meteor shower was generated about 20,000 years ago.<\/p>\n \u203a Back to Top<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n During its 61st close flyby of Jupiter on May 12, NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft captured a color-enhanced view of the giant planet\u2019s northern hemisphere. It provides a detailed view of chaotic clouds and cyclonic storms in an area known to scientists as a folded filamentary region. In these regions, the zonal jets that create the familiar banded patterns in Jupiter\u2019s clouds break down, leading to turbulent patterns and cloud structures that rapidly evolve over the course of only a few days.<\/p>\n Citizen scientist Gary Eason made this image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument, applying digital processing techniques to enhance color and clarity.<\/p>\n At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 18,000 miles above Jupiter\u2019s cloud tops, at a latitude of about 68 degrees north of the equator.<\/p>\n JunoCam\u2019s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at\u00a0 More information about NASA citizen science can be found at\u00a0<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA\u2019s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center for the agency\u2019s Science Mission Directorate. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) funded the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.<\/p>\n Learn more about Juno.<\/p>\n