This engineering model will help NASA with the final design for the Viper lunar rover.

NASA has what amounts to a moon sandbox at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The agency took a model of its new Viper rover out to play in conditions that mimic the lunar surface.

"We call this maneuver the 'Moon shimmy,'" NASA's Ames Research Center team tweetedMonday, along with a video showing the rover wiggling its wheels in a large soil bin filled with lunar simulant.

"Test data will be used to evaluate the traction of the vehicle and wheels, determine the power requirements for a variety of maneuvers and compare methods of traversing steep slopes," NASA said in a statement Monday.

Viper stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover. The rover's purpose is to wheel around the lunar south pole on a hunt for water ice, which it'll also sample. This is the same region of the moon NASA is targeting for its crewed Artemis mission in 2024.

NASA has ambitious plans to return astronauts to the moon and to establish an ongoing human presence there. Local water resources could help sustain that dream.

The Viper engineering model is used to test the technologies and hardware that will go into the finalized machine. NASA is hoping to deliver the golf cart-size rover to the moon in late 2022. NASA will be delighted if it receives an icy welcome.

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See NASA's new lunar rover test out its 'moon shimmy' on Earth - CNET

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NASA is sharing information about its myco-architecture program, in which experimental fungus-based building technologies could be the feasible future of Mars habitats. Science fiction often imagines our future on Mars and other planets as run by machines, with metallic cities and flying cars rising above dunes of red sand, NASA says. But the reality may be even stranger.

The myco-architecture (myco is the prefix meaning fungus) NASA is excited about isnt only a new way to make furniture, although it can do that, the agency says. Mushroom Housenot its real nameis an integrated habitat with layers. The tough, complex fibers made by fungal mycelia are building blocks of furniture, interior walls, and the innermost layer of the outer shell. After that comes a layer of cyanobacteria, which photosynthesize water and CO into oxygen and fungus food. The outermost layer in the model is solid ice, which is both protective and nourishing to the cyanobacteria below.

2018 Stanford-Brown-RISD iGEM Team

Bricks and other structures made using myco-architecture are lightweight, easily blended with reused materials like wood chips to make something like plywood, but with mushrooms. NASA pithily says sci-fi relies on shiny metal and flying cars, but the idea of organically grown housing or even spaceships goes back decades. And NASA isnt alone in suggesting that fast-growing natural fibers are the future: In Kim Stanley Robinsons 2018 novel Red Moon, bamboo forms the backbone of an international moon station where thousands of people live and work. Characters marvel at how much the plants grow within even just a day.

On the food podcast Check the Pantry, an Alaska mushroom farmer said once his mushroom cave has taken root, so to speak, new mushrooms can be harvested about every three to five days for the whole growing season. Some fungi grow so fast that scientists are attempting to slow them in order to better study and prevent environmental harm. Different kinds feed on decaying organic material or have symbiotic relationships with plants. The relationship in the NASA myco-architectural model resembles naturally occurring lichen, which are composite organisms made of cyanobacteria and different kinds of fungi.

The lab running the myco-architectural experiments explains that any travel to Mars will follow the so-called turtle model: If we want to live there, we have to carry everything with us in order to do that. (Remember what Matt Damon has to do in order to make nutritious soil for growing potatoes in The Martian?)

On our planet, scientists would build and seed a full-scale fungal Chia Pet house. On Earth, a flexible plastic shell produced to the final habitat dimensions would be seeded with mycelia and dried feedstock and the outside sterilized. [...] At destination, the mycelial and feedstock material would be moistened with water and heated, initiating fungal growth.

Inside the Chia Mushroom House, myco-architecture research lead Lynn Rothschild says the fungi could be biologically tuned to make all kinds of other materials like bioplastics and latex. The fungal materials are insulating, self-repairing, fire-retardant, and with the right melanin levels, reflective of incoming radiation. Finally, science is catching up to what Mario and friends have known since 1988s Super Mario Bros. 3: A Mushroom House bestows a valuable bonus.

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We're All Going to Live in Mushroom Houses on Mars - Popular Mechanics

HONOLULU When scientists search for alien planets, they get a special thrill when they find one that seems to reflect our own world back to us.

TOI 700 d is the newest member of that elite club. The planet was discovered courtesy of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, as one of three worlds in a distant solar system. Unlike its neighbors and the vast majority of planets scientists have identified so far it seems to be about the same size as Earth and to orbit its star at a distance that would allow water to remain liquid on its surface. The discovery was announced here on Jan. 6 at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

As an Earth-size planet in its star's habitable zone, TOI 700 d is a big deal for scientists. "We really want to understand the question, could life form on these planets around very small stars? And this is kind of a nice big step towards that goal," Joseph Rodriguez, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, told Space.com. "We're nowhere near it yet and we're talking, probably, decades, if not much, much longer to answer this question. but we're making steps towards arguably one of the biggest questions in science and not just science but philosophy, religion and a lot of other things."

Related: The Biggest Alien Planet Discoveries of 2019

But for all their excitement, the scientists involved in the discovery don't know a whole lot about TOI 700 d. First, they know about its star, a red dwarf that appears to be a more pleasant sun than some. Active stars can fling bursts of radiation and of highly charged material at planets orbiting them, potentially sterilizing these worlds.

"The star is absolutely quiet," Emily Gilbert, a graduate student in astronomy at the University of Chicago, told Space.com. "We had 11 [months] of TESS data and I didn't see a single flare. The star is a little bit older so it's kind of calmed down a bit over its lifetime, we expect."

The scientists have spotted three planets so far around this quiet star: TOI 700 b, c and d. The first two orbit too close to the star to be promising worlds for life, but the third orbits in the magic ring scientists call the habitable zone, where temperatures allow water to remain liquid on a planet's surface. "It's actually farther into the habitable zone than Earth; Earth itself is barely habitable," Gilbert said.

They are also confident, although not positive, that this planet is tidally locked the same side always faces its star in a constant day, while the other side is in constant night.

But from there, the uncertainties start to pile up. In particular, the scientists working on TOI 700 d want one crucial measurement: its mass. That number would clarify how likely the planet is to be a rocky world like ours, rather than a gassy body that looks like a small sibling of Neptune.

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They've announced their findings anyway because that measurement is going to be very hard to get. "There are facilities that can do it," Rodriguez said. "But there's only a few, it's going to take years probably and multiple campaigns and hundreds of observations."

The scientists also don't know right now whether the planet has an atmosphere, a vital clue when looking for potential life. "If you have just a rock, no one can live there," Gilbert said. Unfortunately, answering that question will be even more difficult than measuring the world's mass.

So for now, scientists are assuming TOI 700 d is rocky, and using models to try to bridge the gap between what they know about the planet and what they know about what life requires. "Modeling helps us say, how robust is this planet? How well can it maintain habitable surface temperatures under all these conditions?" Gabrielle Engelmann-Suissa, a Universities Space Research Association visiting research assistant at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, told Space.com.

All told, Engelmann-Suissa and her colleagues ran 20 different models, each starting with a different combination of surface characteristics: Is the world covered in land, or is it covered in water? And atmospheres? Like Earth's today, like ancient Earth's, or like that of Mars, for example.

Engelmann-Suissa and her colleagues have no idea which of those models is a better match for the reality of TOI 700 d if any of them are. "It sounds like a free-for-all and it kind of is when you model all these types of planets," she said. But the point isn't to stumble upon a scenario that matches the distant truth. Instead, it's to get a sense of the range of possibilities and to understand whether scientific instruments could distinguish between them.

On the first front, the TOI 700 d models look somewhat promising. "None of them went into a runaway greenhouse effect," Engelmann-Suissa said. "In no simulation that we studied did the ocean evaporate, which is cool, that's a good sign." She added that the global average temperatures ranged fairly dramatically, but not beyond the bounds of what scientists can imagine particularly hardy life withstanding.

The hottest simulation, for example, turned up an average surface temperature of about 196 degrees Fahrenheit (91 degrees Celsius). "That's way too hot for us to be comfortable," Engelmann-Suissa said. "It's really hot, but it would kind of be presumptuous to say there's no life"

Modeling's second goal, to better understand how instruments could see the world, offers a grimmer evaluation of TOI 700 d. Nothing scientists have right now will be able to begin to differentiate between all these possible flavors of planet. NASA's next major telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, won't be able to either, and most future concept designs rely on similar apparatuses.

"That's a big problem in our field, there's kind of dim prospects for looking at these planets," Engelmann-Suissa said. "We need to really experiment with detectors and figure out, OK, how can we get this signal precision? Luckily, it's not my problem."

But what the scientists do know for sure is that starting this summer, TESS will again be pointed toward TOI 700 and that could reveal whole new mysteries to try to solve. "Maybe we'll find out that we don't know the architecture of the system: Hey, there's a few more planets," Rodriguez said. "Maybe it's something where it starts to resemble our own solar system, which seems to be uncommon.

"But we just don't know, and I think that's really interesting," Rodriguez said. "We're going to have a lot more data and we're just starting to peel the orange and figure out what's going on with the system."

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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An Earth-size planet in the habitable zone? New NASA discovery is one special world. - Space.com

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) - The Choctaw Nation received a visit from the head of NASA Friday morning to talk about the tribe's use of drones in the past couple of years.

Nearly two years ago the Choctaw Nation was chosen by the federal government as just one of ten locations in the country where drones could be tested in a variety of ways that are currently illegal elsewhere.

Those projects included things that would benefit agriculture, such as feeding animals and setting traps.

"The things that we say are dull, dirty, dangerous, and difficult. Those are the things robots and drones and automation are good for," said James Grimsley, Executive Director of Advanced Technology Initiatives for the Choctaw Nation.

NASA Administrator and former Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine stopped by the Choctaw Nation Friday morning.

He's particularly interested in the drone program and hopes NASA can learn from the Choctaws.

"They initially want to use it for moving medical supplies and equipment and even organs. Sometimes organs don't make it from point A to point B when there's an emergency and they don't make it because it takes it too long to get there. Well what we can do is put them on a vehicle that can get there in a matter of minutes," said Bridenstine.

Grimsley says in the past year, they used drones after the tornados that hit Bryan County in the Spring.

"We were able to help some of the homeowners with their insurance claims because we were able to get them data with video and photographs and things they could use for their claims," said Grimsley.

There are even more goals in mind.

"Search and rescue capabilities that are being developed here, capabilities for infrastructure inspection when you think about pipelines and power lines," said Bridenstine.

"We're going to open up more opportunities for the tribe, more opportunities for our region, so we're excited. There's a lot of good things on the horizon," said Grimsley.

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Head of NASA visits the Choctaw Nation - KXII-TV

SpaceX is about to do the unthinkable.

On Sunday morning, the company plans to launch a doomed Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a brand-new spaceship for NASA, called Crew Dragon, perched on top.

The 230-foot-tall vehicle is expected to heave itself off the ground between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. ET, but then suddenly shut down its engines about 84 seconds into flight. At that point, the Falcon 9 will be traveling nearly twice the speed of sound some 13 miles above Earth's surface.

What comes next for the rocket will be catastrophic. Within seconds of cutting its engines, aerodynamic forces will throttle the uncontrolled, tube-shaped body and rip it to pieces. Inside, huge tanks full of liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene propellant will rip open so a large explosion and fireball is almost a given.

But if all goes according to plan, the Crew Dragon will escape to safety moments after the failure begins.

Such a scenario is one of an astronaut's worst nightmares, but NASA is excited to get on with the flight. That's because the spectacle is part of a highly orchestrated, human-free, and strenuous test of the Crew Dragon's launch escape or abort system.

If the empty spaceship flies away to safety and splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean, as planned, SpaceX will be a penultimate step closer to launching astronauts its first-ever human passengers who are part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

"We are purposely failing a launch vehicle to make sure that our abort system on the spacecraft that we'll be flying for our crews works," Kathy Lueders, the manager of the agency's program, said during a televised press briefing on Friday. "This is a very important test."

Nine astronauts will fly the first four crewed missions inside SpaceX and Boeing's new spaceships for NASA, called Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner, respectively. NASA via AP

More than the safety of SpaceX's launch system for astronauts is riding on the in-flight abort test. In fact, NASA's ability to launch astronauts from American soil at all partly depends on it.

In July 2011, NASA retired its space shuttle fleet without a new American ship to get astronauts to and from orbit from the International Space Station a $150 billion, football field-size laboratory that orbits Earth. Since that time, the agency has had no practical choice but to buy tickets aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for astronauts, to the tune of about $80 million per seat today.

The first crewed flights of NASA's commercial program were supposed to start taking off around 2015. But neither SpaceX nor Boeing, which is also part of the agency's program, have not yet completed rigorous mandatory testing required to launch astronauts.

"Most of us are just way past ready for this to happen. It has taken a lot longer than anybody thought," Wayne Hale, an aerospace engineering consultant and retired NASA space shuttle program manager, told Business Insider. "This year we really need to do it. It really needs to be done."

Saturday's test is the next-to-last step toward that goal, which is why it's so crucial that everything go right.

"The number-one most important thing is we launch them safely," Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of crew mission management, said during NASA's briefing at Kennedy Space Center on Friday.

Hale said that "everybody hopes at this stage that success is the outcome." But he added that in-flight abort tests are not only rare only a handful of them have been done since the Apollo moon program in the 1960s but also "a very difficult situation" where "many things can go wrong."

SpaceX has had trouble with its parachutes, for example, though Hale noted that tweaking and testing has apparently resolved those difficulties. Meanwhile, Boeing also saw a parachute deployment hiccup with its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft due to an incorrect rigging. A clock error on the Starliner also caused Boeing's first uncrewed launch of the vehicle toward the space station to veer wildly off-course.

SpaceX performs a parachute test for its Crew Dragon spaceship, which is designed to ferry NASA astronauts to and from space. NASA

Benji said the Crew Dragon is pre-programmed to detach itself from the Falcon 9 rocket "at the right point in time" if anything goes wrong.

"We're looking for anything that's off-nominal," he told Business Insider.

In the case of Sunday's test, the rocket will shut down while the vehicle is moving through extreme, though not maximum, forces in the atmosphere what Lueders described as "a stressing test" for the entire system, and one that SpaceX ultimately chose over less trying and expensive ones.

"Getting this test behind us is a huge milestone," she said. (The launch was originally scheduled for Saturday, but NASA and SpaceX delayed it due to worsening weather conditions.)

Shortly after detaching from the rocket on Saturday, Reed said Crew Dragon should fire its SuperDraco escape engines for about 10 seconds. That should be enough to put many miles between the doomed rocket and the spaceship.

"We expect there to be some sort of ignition, and probably a fireball of some kind. Whether I would call it an explosion that you would see from the ground? I don't know," Reed said of the rocket. "We'll have to see what actually happens."

As the rocket breaks up, Crew Dragon will coast to an altitude of about 25 miles, shed its aerodynamic "trunk" (which serves as dead weight), and begin to fall toward Earth, according to a SpaceX animation on YouTube (below). The plummeting capsule will then use clusters of small rocket engines, called reaction-control thrusters, to right itself at high speed. The goal is to keep the gumdrop-shaped base facing down and its parachute pods pointed up.

About 4 minutes and 30 seconds after launch, two small drogue shoots will pop out of the capsule's top to stabilize its fall. Four enormous main parachutes will deploy about a minute later and dramatically slow down the vehicle. A little while later about nine minutes total into the mission the Crew Dragon is supposed to splash down about 20 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, where SpaceX recovery crews on boats should be ready and waiting to recover it.

SpaceX and NASA will then review all of the data they collect from the safety test and see if it matches their predictive computer models. That process could take months, and smaller tests may be required afterward.

Assuming the abort test is a success, SpaceX will be poised to fly its first-ever humans NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a demonstration mission called Demo-2. (In March 2019, the company launched an uncrewed Crew Dragon to the space station and back on a mission called Demo-1.)

"The main objective of this test is to show that we can carry the astronauts safely away from the rocket in case anything's going wrong," Reed said.

This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on January 17, 2019.

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SpaceX's next rocket launch is doomed, and that's great for astronauts - Business Insider

Gabbi Cormier, an eighth-grader at Valley Middle School, has been selected as a semifinalist in a nationwide contest to name the information-gathering robot that NASA plans to send to Mars next year.

Students across the United States were invited to enter the Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest. Fifty-two semifinalists per grade level group -- kindergarten to fourth-graders, fifth- to eighth-graders and ninth- to 12th-graders -- were selected.

Cormier submitted the name Cueillir, which is French for gatherer, according to a news release from Grand Forks Public Schools.

The term gatherer means one who collects information in an effort to better understand complicated things, Cormier said.

The Mars 2020 rover is a piece of robotic equipment, weighing more than 2,300 pounds, which will search for signs of past microbial life, characterize the planets climate and geology, collect samples for scientists to study back on Earth and pave the way for human exploration of the red planet.

We are most proud of Gabbi and her accomplishments thus far, said Todd Selk, principal at Valley Middle School. She is creative, curious and enthusiastic about her learning. On top of that, Gabbi is a wonderful young person, representing herself and our school with the highest integrity.

The naming contest partnership is part of the Space Act Agreement between the NASA, Future Engineers and Battelle Education organizations.

Three finalists per grade level group will be announced Tuesday, Jan. 21, and will advance to the final round of judging, which includes a public vote. NASA plans to announce the selected rover name Feb. 18, exactly one year before the rover is scheduled to land on the surface of Mars.

The winner of the Name the Rover contest will win a trip with up to four family members to see the Mars 2020 rover launch.

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Valley Middle School student selected as semifinalist in NASA's 'Name the Rover' contest - Grand Forks Herald

Savannah and Hunter Army Airfield will be home to some very important work over the next few weeks.NASA has brought one of their planes to town, to gather details on snowstorms in the US.If you see a pretty impressive looking plane flying in and out of Hunter Army Airfield the next few weeks, there's nothing to fear.One of NASA's Earth Research Planes arrived Wednesday and will be setting up shop until March 1st. The purpose, to fly 65,000 feet above the clouds to gather data from snowstorms."We're pretty over the entire atmosphere at that altitude," said Tim Williams, Pilot, NASA Research Plane. "It's very much similar to what satellite can do, the difference between us and a satellite.. We can bring this instrument back down at the end of the day."Radars aboard the plane will measure the distribution of raindrops, snowflakes, and ice particles vertically in the clouds as well as how they move."The end game, what we do really do for the public," added Williams. "Better models, better understanding and don't forget that a lot of this is training the next generation."Pilot Cory Bartholomew flew the aircraft into Savannah and he says its satisfying knowing he's playing a part in this important research."It's fun to know that I'm a cog and I'm helping produce information that will maybe let us predict earthquakes a little sooner, blizzards a little better, hurricanes," explained Bartholomew.There were several reasons for NASA choosing Hunter Army Airfield and Savannah for their base, primarily access to a hangar and the weather."It takes us a while to get up to altitude, about 300 nautical miles or so," added Williams. "And doing so we might as well be away from that weather we're going to look at and land at a place that has really good weather."NASA also has a plane based in Virginia that is flying into the storms. This will be the first comprehensive study of east coast snowstorms in 30 years.

Savannah and Hunter Army Airfield will be home to some very important work over the next few weeks.

NASA has brought one of their planes to town, to gather details on snowstorms in the US.

If you see a pretty impressive looking plane flying in and out of Hunter Army Airfield the next few weeks, there's nothing to fear.

One of NASA's Earth Research Planes arrived Wednesday and will be setting up shop until March 1st.

The purpose, to fly 65,000 feet above the clouds to gather data from snowstorms.

"We're pretty over the entire atmosphere at that altitude," said Tim Williams, Pilot, NASA Research Plane. "It's very much similar to what satellite can do, the difference between us and a satellite.. We can bring this instrument back down at the end of the day."

Radars aboard the plane will measure the distribution of raindrops, snowflakes, and ice particles vertically in the clouds as well as how they move.

"The end game, what we do really do for the public," added Williams. "Better models, better understanding and don't forget that a lot of this is training the next generation."

Pilot Cory Bartholomew flew the aircraft into Savannah and he says its satisfying knowing he's playing a part in this important research.

"It's fun to know that I'm a cog and I'm helping produce information that will maybe let us predict earthquakes a little sooner, blizzards a little better, hurricanes," explained Bartholomew.

There were several reasons for NASA choosing Hunter Army Airfield and Savannah for their base, primarily access to a hangar and the weather.

"It takes us a while to get up to altitude, about 300 nautical miles or so," added Williams. "And doing so we might as well be away from that weather we're going to look at and land at a place that has really good weather."

NASA also has a plane based in Virginia that is flying into the storms. This will be the first comprehensive study of east coast snowstorms in 30 years.

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NASA basing one of its Earth Research Planes at Hunter Army Airfield - WJCL News

NEOSHO, Mo. One girl from Neosho could be choosing the name of NASAs 2020 rover after being named a semi-finalist in a national competition.

8-year-old Schiylah Pilant, a student at Neosho Christian School, entered the contest.

Her suggested name for the rover is Mystery, and she wrote an essay to be considered.

She and 155 other students beat out 28,000 other applicants across the nation to be semi-finalists.

Schiylah has always had a passion for science and studying rocks which inspired her to get involved. . Schiylah Pilant, named semi-finalist in Name The Rover contest, says, The one thing it has that the other one didnt is a drill, and it is going to drill through rocks to get core samples to look for past microbial life.

In a few weeks, Schiylah will find out if she is in the top nine finalists in the contest.

Only one person will have the rover named their idea.

They will also get a chance to see the rover launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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Local girl may be choosing the name of NASAs 2020 rover - KSNF/KODE - FourStatesHomepage.com

Artist's impression of a solar storm going towards Earth (at right). Earth is surrounded by magnetic ... [+] fields that can deflect most solar activity.

Every so often, the sun has an epic tantrum and if Earth's in the way, bad things can happen. Thats why NASA and Amazon are teaming up with a new machine learning application to better predict the coming of a solar superstorm.

Weve seen these superstorms cause damage in the past. In 1859, an incident called the Carrington event reportedly disrupted telegraph communications. And in winter 1989, thousands of residents of Quebec, Canada were plunged into darkness when their hydro cut out. While these worst events are rare, on average they are expected every 50 years.

These incidents are due to eruptions on the sun. The sun periodically sends out flares (which you can see in large telescopes) and often, these flares are accompanied by bursts of invisible radiative particles called coronal mass ejections. Usually Earth's magnetic field protects against the radiation. But occasionally, there are so many particles that they can produce huge solar storms, knocking out satellites, power lines and other vital infrastructure for humans.

Amazon's cloud services, which could be deployed to predict solar storms.

So NASA and Amazon together are working on machine learning applications. It's not an easy task, Amazon said in a blog post.

Given just how rare superstorms are, there are very few historical examples that can be used to train algorithms. This makes common machine learning approaches like supervised learning woefully inadequate for predicting superstorms, Amazon stated. Additionally, with dozens of past and current satellites gathering space weather information from different key vantage points around Earth, the amount of data is prodigious and the attempt to find correlations laborious when searched conventionally.

Amazon's AWS Professional Services and Machine Learning Solutions Lab have another approach. They're using both unsupervised learning and anomaly prediction to better predict the conditions that are associated with superstorms. AWS is able to examine as many as 1,000 data sets simultaneously, based on rankings of anomalies (generated by NASA) to find patterns that are unique to superstorms.

Before long, NASA and Amazon plan to offer a data "lake" (or repository with reams of raw data) to let researchers crunch the numbers for themselves. The plan is to make forecasting even stronger by looking at the anomalies and making simulations about current-day superstorms and the extreme ones of history, like the Carrington event.

"There's a lot of data, and factors like time lags add to the complexity," said lead researcher Janet Kozyra, a heliophysicist (sun researcher) at NASA, in the statement. "With Amazon, we can take every single piece of data that we have on superstorms, and use anomalies we have detected to improve the models that predict and classify superstorms effectively."

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NASA And Amazon Are Teaming Up To Build An App That Can Predict Solar Superstorms - Forbes

The Omega Nebula (Messier 17), also known as the Swan Nebula because of its distinct appearance, is one of the most well-known nebulas in our galaxy. Located about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius, this nebula is also one of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions in the Milky Way. Unfortunately, nebulas are very difficult to study because of the way their clouds of dust and gas obscure their interiors.

For this reason, astronomers are forced to examine nebulas in the non-visible wavelength to get a better idea of their makeup. Using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a team of NASA scientists recently observed the Swan Nebula in the infrared wavelength. What they found has revealed a great deal about how this nebula and stellar nursery evolved over time.

To be clear, studying star-forming nebulas like M17 is no simple task. For starters, it is largely composed of hot hydrogen gas that is illuminated by the hottest stars housed inside of it. However, its brightest stars can be difficult to see directly because they are housed within cocoons of dense gas and dust. Its central region is also very bright, to the point that images captured in visible light wavelengths become oversaturated.

As such, this nebula and the youngest stars that live deep inside of it have to be observed in the infrared wavelength. To do this, the research team relied on the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST), which is part of the joint NASA/DLR SOFIA telescope. This telescope is housed aboard a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that routinely flies it to an altitude of 11600 to 13700 m (38,000 to 45,000 ft) to make observations.

This altitude places SOFIA in Earths stratosphere, where it is subject to 99% less atmospheric interference than ground-based telescopes. As Wanggi Lim, a Universities Space Research Association (USRA) scientist with the SOFIA Science Center at NASAs Ames Research Center, explained:

The present-day nebula holds the secrets that reveal its past;we just need to be able to uncover them. SOFIA lets us do this, so we can understand why the nebula looks the way it does today.

Thanks to SOFIAs FORCAST instrument, the team was able to pierce the veil of the Swan Nebula to reveal nine previously-unknown protostars areas where the nebulas cloud that are collapsing to create new stars. In addition, the team calculated the ages of the nebulas different regions and determined that they didnt all form at once, but through multiple generations of star formation.

The central region, since it is the oldest and most evolved, is believed to have formed first, followed by the northern area and southern regions, respectively. They also noted that while the northern area is older than the southern region, the radiation and stellar winds from previous generations of stars disrupted the material there, thus preventing it from collapsing to form the next generation of stars.

These observations constitute a breakthrough for astronomers, who have been trying to learn more about the stars inside of the Swan Nebula for decades. As Jim De Buizer, a senior scientist also at the SOFIA Science Center, conveyed, put it:

This is the most detailed view of the nebula we have ever had at these wavelengths. Its the first time we can see some of its youngest, massive stars, and start to truly understand how it evolved into the iconic nebula we see today.

Essentially, massive stars (like the ones found in the Swan Nebula) release so much energy that they can affect the evolution of entire galaxies. However, only 1% of all stars are this enormous, which means that astronomers have very few opportunities to study them. And while infrared surveys have been made of this nebula before using space telescopes, none of them revealed the same level of detail as SOFIA.

The composite image above showcases what SOFIA captured, along with data from the Herschel and Spitzer Space Telescope that show the red gas at its edges (red) and the white starfield, respectively. These included regions of gas (shown in blue above) that are heated by massive stars located near the center and dust clouds (shown in green) that are warmed by existing massive stars and nearby newborn stars.

The observations are also significant seeing as how Spitzer, NASAs premier infrared telescope for more than 16 years, is set to retire on Jan. 30th, 2020. In the meantime, SOFIA will continue to explore the Universe in the mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, which are not accessible to other telescopes. In the coming years, it will be joined by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

By learning more about the makeup and evolution of nebulas, astronomers hope to better their understanding of star and planet formation, the chemical evolution of galaxies, and the role magnetic fields play in the cosmic evolution.

Further Reading: NASA

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New View of the Swan Nebula From NASA's Airborne SOFIA Telescope - Universe Today

Illustration of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket during the companys uncrewed In-Flight Abort Test for NASAs Commercial Crew Program. This demonstration test of Crew Dragons launch escape capabilities is designed to provide valuable data toward NASA certifying SpaceXs crew transportation system for carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

SpaceX will sacrifice a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday in a fiery test a minute-and-a-half after liftoff from Floridas Space Coast to prove the companys Crew Dragon spacecraft can safely push astronauts away from a failing launch vehicle, simulating a daring maneuver that would only be attempted on a piloted mission during an in-flight emergency.

The launch escape demonstration could be a spectacle for local residents, rocket fans and enthusiasts along the Space Coast, assuming clear skies and good visibility, according to SpaceX.

While the Crew Dragon capsule flying without astronauts on Sundays test fires away from the top of the Falcon 9 rocket, the booster itself is expected to tumble and break apart, possibly in a fireball visible from the ground.

The purpose of the test the final planned demonstration of a full-scale Crew Dragon before NASA astronauts fly it int orbit is to validate the ships launch escape system. Abort rockets mounted around the circumference of the capsule would activate to rapidly carry the spaceship and its astronaut crew away from an emergency during launch on a Falcon 9 rocket, such as a booster failure or explosion.

On launch day (with crews), were really hoping for it not to be exciting, said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASAs commercial crew program. I will tell you (Sunday) will be an exciting day. We are purposely failing a launch vehicle to make sure that our abort system on the spacecraft that well be flying for our crews works.

The Crew Dragons eight liquid-fueled SuperDraco escape engines will ignite around 84 seconds after liftoff on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A, soon after the point in the launch sequence where the booster and capsule experience the most extreme aerodynamic pressures.

The abort thrusters will generate nearly 130,000 pounds of thrust, pushing the gumdrop-shaped crew capsule away from the top of the Falcon 9 with an acceleration of up to to 4Gs.

The six-hour test window opens at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) Sunday. SpaceX called off a launch attempt early Saturday due to concerns about rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida, where the Crew Dragon splash down under parachutes around 10 minutes after launch from pad 39A the Kennedy Space Center.

What will happen, basically, is well initiate launch escape, and the Falcon engines will shut down, said Benji Reed, SpaceXs director of crew mission management. So the thrust of the Falcon will shut down right after that happens.

The abort burn should happen as the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon are flying at an altitude of roughly 62,000 feet (19 kilometers) and traveling nearly twice the speed of sound.

Dragon, at the same time, will be getting away, Reed said. It takes about 10 seconds for a SuperDraco burn on the Dragon. Dragon will hit about Mach 2.3 as its getting away. We expect it to be actually quite far away from falcon at the acceleration its going before anything starts to happen on Falcon Thats a very quick process.

The sudden separation of the Dragon spacecraft from top of the rocket, coupled with the loss of thrust from the Falcon 9s Merlin main engines, will likely cause the launcher to begin tumbling in the upper atmosphere.

The Dragon will have left, so the top end of the second stage is now basically a big air scoop, so youve got all this air pushing against it, huge amounts of force pushing against it, and its also cut thrust, so its no longer pushing up in a trajectory, Reed said. Its going to be a lot more susceptible to the winds and starting to fall as it loses its velocity and starts to tumble.

At some point, we expect that the Falcon will start to break up, Reed said. Both stages are loaded with fuel because we want have the right mass, and test the right (way), so with those both stages loaded with fuel, we do expect there will probably be some amount of ignition, flame. Well see something. On a clear day, possibly from the ground you could see it.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket launching the Crew Dragon on Sundays abort test is designated B1046. Its set to fly for the fourth and final time, and was the first upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 booster to launch in May 2018.

The Block 5 is the most recent, human-rated variant of SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket.

Before the Crew Dragon abort test, the B1046 booster launched the Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite for Bangladesh from the Kennedy Space Center in May 2018, then launched again in August 2018 with the Indonesian Merah Putih communications spacecraft. The boosters third mission occurred in December 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a rideshare mission with 64 small satellites.

The booster landed on a SpaceX drone ship after each of its previous missions, but will not be recovered intact after the Crew Dragon abort test.SpaceX says teams will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean just east of Cape Canaveral to pick up any floating debris from the rocket.

There is no second stage engine on the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the abort test.

The second stage will be loaded with propellant, Reed said. There will still be quite bit of propellant in the first stage. We expect there to be some sort of ignition and probably a fireball of some kind.

Whether I would call it an explosion that you would see from the ground, I dont know, he added. Well have to see what actually happens, but I wouldnt be surprised, and it wouldnt be a bad outcome.

In the unlikely event of a rocket mishap before the planned time of the Crew Dragon abort burn, the capsule will be armed to trigger a premature escape burn Sunday, according to Reed.

While the Falcon 9 boosters demise could prove a spectacle, SpaceXs attention will be on the performance of the crew capsule.

The in-flight launch abort capability is a crucial part of the Crew Dragon safety system. SpaceX verified the Crew Dragons ability to escape an emergency on the launch pad in 2015 during a ground-launched pad abort test.

(Sundays) test is one of these things thats actually going to allow us test that whole system end-to-end, Reed said.

Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon will reach a top speed of Mach 2.3 and arc on a ballistic trajectory to a peak altitude of some 138,000 feet (42 kilometers), then use its thrusters to re-orient for descent. The capsule will jettison an unpressurized trunk section and deploy four main parachutes to gently splash down in the Atlantic Ocean around 20 miles (32 kilometers) offshore, where U.S. military, NASA and SpaceX recovery teams will recover the capsule to practice procedures they would execute on a crew mission.

The entire abort test flight, from liftoff through splashdown, will take around 10 minutes.

SpaceX and NASA officials will have to carefully monitor weather and sea conditions for the in-flight abort test.

In addition the the typical launch weather constraints such as high winds and lightning engineers want good visibility to optically track the Falcon 9 launcher and Crew Dragon spacecraft during the escape sequence. And sea conditions in the Atlantic Ocean splashdown zone roughly 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of pad 39A are also important.

Its a nice dance between launch weather, optics, and the winds and waves offshore, so were trying to find a time where all those things match up, said Mike McAleenan, the launch weather officer from the U.S. Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron. But well find it, and well make sure we go when its ready and everything is lining up.

Launch abort systems have been used during emergencies on other rockets, most recently in October 2018, when a Russian Soyuz booster failed two minutes after liftoff. The Soyuz abort rockets fired to safely carry Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA flight engineer Nick Hague away from the Soyuz booster as it tumbled out of control.

SpaceX is conducting the in-flight abort test under the terms of a commercial crew agreement awarded by NASA in 2012.

NASA has awarded SpaceX a series of funding agreements and SpaceX since 2011 worth more than $3.1 billion for development of a human-rated Dragon spacecraft. Boeing has received more than $4.8 billion from NASA since 2010 for its Starliner crew capsule.

Both companies aim to fly astronauts for the first time later this year, ending U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crew transportation to the International Space Station. NASA paid the Russian government $3.9 billion for crew transport services to the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, according to the agencys inspector general.

A NASA official said Friday that SpaceXs next Crew Dragon spacecraft could be ready to launch astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the space station as soon as early March. But that schedule hinges on a good outcome to Sundays abort test, the results of two more parachute drop tests, NASA data reviews and final assembly and processing milestones for the Crew Dragon spacecraft itself.

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SpaceX will trigger an intentional rocket failure to prove crew capsule's safety - Spaceflight Now

According to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Earths global surface temperatures in 2019 were the second warmest since modern recordkeeping began in 1880. Credit: NASA

According to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Earths global surface temperatures in 2019 were the second warmest since modern recordkeeping began in 1880.

Globally, 2019 temperatures were second only to those of 2016 and continued the planets long-term warming trend: the past five years have been the warmest of the last 140 years.

This past year, they were 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.98 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to scientists at NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.

The decade that just ended is clearly the warmest decade on record, said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt. Every decade since the 1960s clearly has been warmer than the one before.

Earths long-term warming trend can be seen in this visualization of NASAs global temperature record, which shows how the planets temperatures are changing over time, compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980. The record is shown as a running five-year average. Credit: NASAs Scientific Visualization Studio/Kathryn Mersmann

Since the 1880s, the average global surface temperature has risen and the average temperature is now more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (a bit more than 1 degree Celsius) above that of the late 19th century. For reference, the last Ice Age was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit colder than pre-industrial temperatures.

Using climate models and statistical analysis of global temperature data, scientists have concluded that this increase mostly has been driven by increased emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by human activities.

We crossed over into more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit warming territory in 2015 and we are unlikely to go back. This shows that whats happening is persistent, not a fluke due to some weather phenomenon: we know that the long-term trends are being driven by the increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, Schmidt said.

This plot shows yearly temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2019, with respect to the 1951-1980 mean, as recorded by NASA, NOAA, the Berkeley Earth research group, the Met Office Hadley Centre (UK), and the Cowtan and Way analysis. Though there are minor variations from year to year, all five temperature records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades, and all show the past decade has been the warmest. Credit: NASA GISS/Gavin Schmidt

Because weather station locations and measurement practices change over time, the interpretation of specific year-to-year global mean temperature differences has some uncertainties. Taking this into account, NASA estimates that 2019s global mean change is accurate to within 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit, with a 95% certainty level.

Weather dynamics often affect regional temperatures, so not every region on Earth experienced similar amounts of warming. NOAA found the 2019 annual mean temperature for the contiguous 48 United States was the 34th warmest on record, giving it a warmer than average classification. The Arctic region has warmed slightly more than three times faster than the rest of the world since 1970.

Rising temperatures in the atmosphere and ocean are contributing to the continued mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica and to increases in some extreme events, such as heat waves, wildfires, intense precipitation.

NASAs temperature analyses incorporate surface temperature measurements from more than 20,000 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.

These in situ measurements are analyzed using an algorithm that considers the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and urban heat island effects that could skew the conclusions. These calculations produce the global average temperature deviations from the baseline period of 1951 to 1980.

NOAA scientists used much of the same raw temperature data, but with a different interpolation into the Earths polar and other data-poor regions. NOAAs analysis found 2019 global temperatures were 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.95 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average.

NASAs full 2019 surface temperature data set and the complete methodology used for the temperature calculation and its uncertainties are available here.

GISS is a laboratory within the Earth Sciences Division of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia Universitys Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.

NASA uses the unique vantage point of space to better understand Earth as an interconnected system. The agency also uses airborne and ground-based measurements, and develops new ways to observe and study Earth with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. NASA shares this knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet.

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2019 Was the Second Hottest Year on Record According to Both NASA & NOAA - SciTechDaily

Fueled by a lengthy and intensifying drought, an early kickoff to fire season in the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales began in September 2019 and continued into early 2020. Upwards of 100 wildfires have devastated Australia's southeast coast, killing at least 28 people and more than 1 billion animals.

Satellites from NASA and other agencies are tracking the deadly wildfires from space. Scroll down to photos of Australia's wildfires from space.

Full Coverage:

Jan. 15: Astronauts spot smoke from growing Australian wildfires from space

Jan. 10: Satellites show toll of Australian wildfires on wildlife and human populations

Jan. 7: In Australia, rain falls, but wildfires expected to intensify

Jan. 6: Astronauts spot Australia's deadly wildfires from space station

Jan. 3: Satellite images show Australia's devastating wildfires from space

This gallery was updated with new imagery on Jan. 15.

Thick clouds of brown smoke from Australia's bushfires spread across the Tasman Sea in this photo captured by an astronaut at the International Space Station. The photo was taken on Jan. 4, when the station was orbiting 269 miles (433 kilometers) above the Earth.

European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano captured this image of the Australian fires on Jan. 12, 2020.

Also taken by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano on Jan. 12, this image presents several of the wild fires burning across Australia. The astronaut wrote on Twitter, "Australia fires: lives, hopes, dreams in ashes."

European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted this Jan. 13 image of the fires burning Down Under.

European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted this image from the International Space Station, on Jan. 13.

Astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted this image of the wildfires from the International Space Station, on Jan. 13.

On Jan. 13, 2020, astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted this image of an immense ash cloud covering Australia.

As the International Space Station flew toward sunset on Jan. 13, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano captured this image of immense ash clouds over Australia.

Australian wildfires cover the continent in ash clouds early on Jan. 13.

On Jan. 14, NASA astronaut Christina Koch tweeted this image of the Australian continent.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch tweeted this photo on Jan. 14, writing: "Australia. Our hearts and thoughts are with you."

NASA astronaut Christina Koch tweeted out support to Australia on Jan. 14, as the International Space Station orbited above the wildfires.

On Jan. 9, 2020, the Operational Land Imager on the NASA-USGS Landsat 8 satellites acquired natural-color images of charred land and thick smoke covering Australias Kangaroo Island, where nearly one-third of the land area had burned.

An annotated image of Kangaroo Island shows the burn scars, fires and smoke on Jan. 9, 2020.

A satellite image taken by NASA's Terra mission in January 2020 shows the extent of wildfire burns on Australia's Kangaroo Island.

Imagery from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite shows a cloud of brown smoke spreading across the ocean from Australias east coast.

Data from the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite on the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite provides a map of the UV aerosol index, which indicates smoke and dust in the atmosphere.

This animation from the Suomi NPP satellite combines natural-color imagery with UV aerosol data to illustrate how the wildfires in Australia are spreading aerosols to other parts of the world.

NASA's Aqua satellite, using the MODIS instrument captured smoke plumes coming off the wildfires in southeastern Australia on Jan. 5, 2020.

An image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, taken on Jan. 4, 2020, captured smoke plumes blanketing Australia's southeastern coast.

An astronaut on the International Space Station captured this view of smoke from devastating wildfires obscuring the region around Sydney, Australia on Jan. 3, 2020.

A satellite image of the smoke coming from the Australia wildfires on Jan. 1, 2020.

A closeup view of the same satellite image of the smoke coming from the Australia wildfires on Jan. 1, 2020.

This animation is a model of where the black smoke from the raging Australian wildfires is traveling. It's based off of the GEOS forward processing (GEOS FP) model, which combines information from satellite, aircraft and ground-based observation systems and uses data such as air temperature, moisture levels and wind information to project the plume's behavior.

NASA's Aqua satellite used its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer to capture this view of wildfires raging on Australia's eastern coast on Dec. 9, 2019. The wildfires were fueled by unusually hot weather and a potent drought that primed the region in October 2019, according to the space agency.

This map depicts measurements of outgoing longwave radiation in November 2019. The data on Australia's heat emission comes from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System on board NASA's Terra satellite.

In Australia's Lamington National Park and Gondwana Rainforests fires created large amounts of smoke visible in this Suomi NPP satellite image, captured on Oct. 9, 2019.

Taken on Nov. 5, 2019, this image shows fire and smoke over southern Western Australia. The image, taken by the Operational Land Imager, exhibits fire in the Goldfields region.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite on the Suomi NPP satellite captured the recent outbreak of fires in New South Wales in this image from Nov. 8, 2019. Thick smoke is blowing over the Tasman Sea.

More than 100 bushfires burned on the east coast of Australia, stretching from the Blue Mountains to the border of Queensland, which has over 50 of its own blazes. The hot, dry and windy weather has precipitated an early and grisly start to this year's fire season.

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Australia's Deadly Wildfires in Photos: The View from Space - Space.com

On Saturday morning, SpaceX hopes that destroying a rocket in flight will show that its spacecraft are safe for astronauts.

Since 2012, the company founded by Elon Musk has been flying to the International Space Station for NASA, but it has never before carried a human crew, only cargo. In a final major milestone before it is ready to start taking NASA astronauts to the station, SpaceX will test a system that is to rescue astronauts in case of an emergency during launch.

The main objective of this test is to show that we can carry the astronauts safely away, said Benji Reed, director of crew mission management for SpaceX, during a news conference on Friday.

This flight of a Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon capsule on top is known as an in-flight abort test. It will not have any astronauts aboard, and it will not be like most launches where were really hoping for it not to be exciting, said Kathy Lueders, manager of the commercial crew program for NASA. I will tell you, tomorrow will be an exciting day.

About 84 seconds after launch, the Falcon 9 rocket will shut off its nine engines, simulating a failure, and powerful thrusters on the Crew Dragon will ignite to propel the capsule away. The force of that sudden departure will destroy the rocket, possibly even causing it to explode.

Probably a fireball of some kind, Mr. Reed said.

After reaching an altitude of about 25 miles, the Dragon will then drop off the trunk, or bottom half of the spacecraft, and small thrusters will push the capsule into the correct vertical orientation before parachutes deploy. It is to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean just 10 minutes after launch.

Weather forecasts predict a 90 percent chance of good conditions at the launchpad. But if the ocean is too choppy where the capsule is to splash down, it could delay the liftoff. You all may be waiting for a while, Ms. Lueders said, while were trying to find the perfect time for us to be able to conduct this test.

The launch is to occur after 11 a.m. Eastern time, at least three hours later than what had been scheduled. On Friday evening, NASA and SpaceX posted updates on Twitter that the liftoff would likely occur closer to noon. During the Friday news conference, Mr. Reed said there were discussions to possibly extend the launch window into Saturday afternoon.

NASA Television is to broadcast coverage of the test beginning 20 minutes before liftoff. There are backup opportunities for conducting the launch on Sunday and Monday, although weather could again cause problems.

If the test is successful, Ms. Lueders said, the next Crew Dragon mission, which is scheduled to take two NASA astronauts, Douglas G. Hurley and Robert L. Behnken, to the space station, could launch as soon as early March.

SpaceXs in-flight abort test brings NASA closer to the culmination of its strategy of turning to private companies SpaceX and Boeing for providing transportation for its astronauts. In the past, NASA built and operated its own vehicles, like the space shuttles.

Delays have pushed back the first commercial crew flights by a couple of years, but NASA hopes that the first crewed missions will take off this year. In California, SpaceX is completing construction of its next Crew Dragon capsule and plans to ship it to Florida within a few weeks.

Last month, Boeing launched its capsule, called Starliner, in a test flight without astronauts, but a problem with the spacecrafts clock led to calling off a planned docking at the space station. Boeing and NASA are investigating what went wrong and NASA will decide whether it will allow astronauts on the next Starliner flight, or it will require Boeing to first repeat the uncrewed orbital test flight.

Since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA has had to rely on Soyuz rockets built by Russia for taking astronauts into orbit. It is looking to buy one or two more seats from Russia, at a cost of more than $80 million apiece. If SpaceX and Boeing experience further delays, NASA will have to cut the number of astronauts at the space station, which would limit the amount of scientific research.

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SpaceX Prepares to Destroy Rocket for NASA in Safety Test - The New York Times

On Wednesday, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and Space Administration released their combined study on 2019 weather trends around the world. The main takeaway was stark: 2019 was the second warmest year on record, and the trend from Alaska to Antartica has been one of steady warming. According to data from the two government agenciescollected independently, then presented in tandemthelast fiveyears were the hottest in recent human history, with 2016 barely beating 2019 for first place.

The respective organizations covered much of the same ground, but both made some unique additions to the joint report. NASA, for example, contributed a global temperature uncertainty analysistracking margin of errorwhile NOAA added specific coverage of domestic heat and rain conditions for the year.

Notwithstanding the potential for major disruptive eventsa volcano, some sort of massive social actionif setting those aside, Deke Arndt, a chief of climate monitoring at NOAA, told reporters, the chances are well continue to climb at about the rate weve been climbing. Though the report contained no predictions beyond that one, their data illustrates that even though 2019 may have been an anomaly on the grand scale, if the scope were narrowed to the last decade, it was yet another example of how the planet is moving towards a hotter future.

Here are some of the most striking charts from the report:

According to data collected by NASA, and corroborated by NOAA, 2019 was the second warmest year ever recorded. Thats 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the average temperature of the earth between 1951 and 1980.

Despite being collected independently of each other, there is remarkable consistency between the findings. On a given year, its normal for there to be some discrepancy, but Arndt says the data from 2019 were in complete agreement, showing a consistent increase in global average temperature since at least 1980. By presenting that data side by side, he notes, the findings of both are reinforced. Were measuring the same planet, and we do have slightly different methods, he said. It actually helps that we have slightly different waysin a checks and balances wayto make sure our methods are solid.

According to Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the Arctic sea ice levels oscillate between March and September, when seasonal ice melting and expansion take place. In recent decades, the measurements of sea ice taken at those times have dramatically fallen, uncovering sections of Arctic ice that havent touched the open air on the earths surface in 50,000 years.

Across the United States, mean temperatures in 2019 also were above average. The differences were particularly dramatic in the American south, where large swathes of Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina saw record heat.

Yet it was Alaska that saw the most dramatic deviation from the norm. Average temperatures in the state in 2019 were 32.2 degrees Fahrenheit, more than 6 degrees higher than the cumulative average from 1925 to 2000.

These findings are jarring and come during a long campaign of climate change erasure and denialismfrom the Trump administration. Though the organizations have been pulled onto the political chess board in the past by President Donald Trump, both scientists were clear about the fundamental cause of the warming temperatures: Certainty that the trend is the result of human behavior is at near 100 percent, says Schmidt. All the trends are anthropogenic at this point.

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NASA and NOAA Just Announced that 2019 Was the Second Hottest Year on Record - Mother Jones

Last year was the second-warmest year ever recorded and the past decade the hottest on record,NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Wednesday.

Global surface temperatures in 2019 were cooler than only 2016,the agencies said.

The decade of 2010 to 2019 was also the warmest ever recorded and the past five years have been the five warmest, according to the agencies.

Every decade since the 1960s clearly has been warmer than the one before, saidGavin Schmidt, the director of NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in a statement.

"Whats happening is persistent, not a fluke due to some weather phenomenon: we know that the long-term trends are being driven by the increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, Schmidt added.

This past year, temperatures were1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.98 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean.

The statement said that weather dynamicsaffect regional temperatures, so they varied across the earth.

The annual average temperature for thecontiguous 48 United States was the 34th warmest on record, making itwarmer than average, according to NOAA.

Their finding echoes a similar analysis released last week by a European Unionaffiliated organization that also found 2019 to be the second-warmest year globally.

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2019 was the second hottest year on record, per NASA and NOAA | TheHill - The Hill

Introduction

For more than a decade, NASAs Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moonstaking us to astounding worlds where methane rivers run to a methane sea and where jets of ice and gas are blasting material into space from a liquid water ocean that might harbor the ingredients for life.

Cassini revealed in great detail the true wonders of Saturn, a giant world ruled by raging storms and delicate harmonies of gravity.

Cassini carried a passenger to the Saturn system, the European Huygens probethe first human-made object to land on a world in the distant outer solar system.

After 20 years in space 13 of those years exploring Saturn Cassini exhausted its fuel supply. And so, to protect moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life, Cassini was sent on a daring final mission that would seal its fate. After a series of nearly two dozen nail-biting dives between the planet and its icy rings, Cassini plunged into Saturns atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end.

10 Ways Cassini Mattered

10 Ways Cassini Mattered

1

Cassini-Huygens was a mission of firsts. First to orbit Saturn. First landing in the outer solar system. First to sample an extraterrestrial ocean.

2

Cassini expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist.

3

Cassini-Huygens revealed Titan to be one of the most Earth-like worlds weve encountered and shed light on the history of our home planet.

4

Cassini was, in a sense, a time machine. It revealed the processes that likely shaped the development of our solar system.

5

Cassinis long mission enabled us to observe weather and seasonal changes on another planet.

6

Cassini revealed Saturns moons to be unique worlds with their own stories to tell.

7

Cassini showed us the complexity of Saturns rings and the dramatic processes operating within them.

8

What Cassini found at Saturn prompted scientists to rethink their understanding of the solar system.

9

Cassini represented a staggering achievement of human and technical complexity, finding innovative ways to use the spacecraft.

10

Cassini revealed the beauty of Saturn, its rings and moons, inspiring our sense of wonder.

Notable Explorers

Xianzhe Jia

Scientist

Cassini is such a fantastic mission. It not only acquired a wealth of data that led to numerous discoveries, but also raised a new generation of planetary scientists, including myself.

Todd J. Barber

Propulsion Engineer

I think making tons of money is overrated if you're not actively psyched about what you get to do all day. Passion drives me, it fuels me, and it's what matters most to me.

Sarah Milkovich

Planetary Geologist and Science Systems Engineer

"Be curious about everything -- take every opportunity that presents itself to learn new things."

Rosaly Lopes

Planetary Scientist

"Study hard and do what you love, then it doesn't feel like work."

Robert Mitchell

Retired Program Manager

"The Ranger missions looked a lot more exciting to me than what I was doing at the time, and so I sent my resume off to JPL. I've been here ever since."

Robert (Bob) Pappalardo

Scientist

The most exciting moments are the 'aha moments' when a scientific problem that you've been wrestling with suddenly falls into place and begins to make sense.

Richard "Rick" Grammier (1955 - 2011)

Former Director for Solar System Exploration

"His spirit will continue to inspire us as we continue our quest to understand the Universe."

Rachel Mastrapa

Research Scientist

"Science and math are part natural gifts and part practice. You don't have to be a genius to be successful."

Phillips Davis

Website Editor/Curator

"Ask lots of questions. Be persistent. And never stop exploring your options."

Morgan Cable

Scientist

If you are doing something that makes you happy, you will work hard at it and you will be successful.

Michele Dougherty

Principal Investigator

"There will be times when you don't think you are doing the right thing, but don't make any hasty decisions. Just hang on in there."

Michael Staab

Mission Operations Engineer

"STEM is, by far, the coolest field to get into. We fly spacecraft around other planets; how much better can it get?"

Kathleen Mandt

Planetary Scientist

Julie Castillo-Rogez

Planetary Geophysicist

"My first personal connection with outer space occurred during the arrival of Voyager 2 at Neptune."

Jonathan Lunine

Scientist

No human had ever seen this landscape before. And for a period of maybe 20 minutes, half hour, we were the only ones to see this alien world.

Joan Stupik

Engineer

I'm really excited to be a part of the spacecraft that will be learning about a place where scientists think there could be some form of life.

Jeffrey Cuzzi

Research Scientist

"Stay close to subjects that fascinate you personally, but also ask why is the subject important."

Hunter Waite

Scientist

Get lots of good chemistry, physics and math background in college.

Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle

Scientist

Just because it isn't always easy doesn't mean you can't do it and do it well.

David Doody

Flight Operations Lead Engineer

"To be able now to work on projects that are flying to the planets has been really a dream."

Curt Niebur

Program Scientist

Having a dream is a must. Having a plan is an excellent idea, but you also have to be willing to jump at unexpected opportunities.

Claudia Alexander (1959-2015)

Scientist

"Science and math are fascinating and fundamental. They require as much discipline as an athlete working to be a football player, or a musician attempting to land a recording contract."

Catherine Neish

Assistant Professor

Candice Hansen

Scientist

Study lots of math. Math is the language of science.

Brent Buffington

Engineer

Excerpt from:

Overview | Cassini NASA Solar System Exploration

NASA plans to launch a rover to Mars this July to hunt for signs of ancient Red Planet life.

The new Mars 2020 rover's body is similar to that of the older Curiosity rover, which landed in 2012. But the two machines are quite different in important ways.

Curiosity's mission centers on assessing the past habitability of its landing site, the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater. The rover quickly determined that Gale harbored a potentially habitable lake-and-stream system in the ancient past, and Curiosity is now fleshing out that long-gone environment as it climbs the foothills of Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the sky from Gale's center.

Related: NASA's Mars Rover 2020 Mission in Pictures

Mars 2020 will characterize the habitability of its landing site, Jezero Crater, after touching down in February 2021. But the new rover will also hunt for ancient biosignatures signs of past life that could be lurking in rock or soil samples. And Mars 2020 will cache the most promising samples for return to Earth by a future mission.

The mass and dimensions of the rovers differ as well. Mars 2020 is about 5 inches (13 centimeters) longer and 280 lbs. (127 kilograms) heavier than Curiosity. That's because Mars 2020 will carry a different set of tools, officials with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) explained in a recent statement.

The two robots' arms have the same reach (7 feet, or 2.2 meters). But Mars 2020 has bigger instruments and a larger drill to do "coring."

"The drill will cut intact rock cores, rather than pulverizing them, and they'll be placed in sample tubes via a complex storage system," JPL officials said in the statement.

Curiosity has 17 cameras, including both color and black-and-white shooters. Mars 2020, by comparison, will carry 23, and most of them will take color photos. In addition, Mars 2020's Mastcam-Z will improve upon Curiosity's Mast Camera with zoom and high-definition video.

The newer rover, unlike its predecessor, will also carry two microphones to listen to the sounds of landing on Mars, as well as the Red Planet wind and the zaps coming from Mars 2020's onboard laser-equipped instrument.

Mars 2020 also will improve upon Curiosity's aluminum wheels, which have been damaged by sharp rocks. NASA successfully modified its driving plan for Curiosity to see it through its time on the Red Planet. But such troubleshooting may not be necessary for Mars 2020, whose wheels are bigger and thicker, and sport more treads, or "grousers."

"Extensive testing in JPL's Mars Yard has shown these treads better withstand the pressure from sharp rocks but work just as well on sand," JPL officials said.

Mars 2020 will also take advantage of advances in computing for "self-driving smarts," figuring out its path on Mars autonomously up to five times faster than Curiosity can. Mars 2020 team members hope this upgraded brain will reduce the amount of planning time needed for navigation, allowing the new rover to cover more ground and accomplish more tasks.

With the self-driving technique, daily operations could take 5 hours, compared with 7 for Curiosity, JPL officials stated. (Curiosity used to require 19 hours of analysis, but improved operations and newer autonavigation on Curiosity have reduced that time considerably in seven years.)

A final major difference is in the landing. Like Curiosity, Mars 2020 will endure "seven minutes of terror" that wraps up with a rocket-powered sky crane lowering the robot to the Martian surface on cables. But the new rover features "terrain relative navigation," an advanced system that will allow Mars 2020 to land much more precisely than its predecessor.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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NASA's New Mars 2020 Car May Look Like the Curiosity Rover, But It's No Twin - Space.com

Whether discovering something about our own planet or phenomena billions of miles away, NASA missions and scientists unveiled a vast universe of mysteries this past decade. And with each daring landing, visit to a new world and journey into the unknown came new opportunities to inspire the next generation of explorers. Read on for a look at some of NASA's most teachable moments of the decade from missions studying Earth, the solar system and beyond. Plus, find out what's next in space exploration and how to continue engaging students into the 2020s with related lessons, activities and resources.

Rising sea levels, shrinking ice caps, higher temperatures and extreme weather continued to impact our lives this past decade, making studying Earths changing climate more important than ever. During the 2010s, NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, led the way by adding new Earth-monitoring satellites to their fleets to measure soil moisture and study carbon dioxide levels. Meanwhile, satellites such as Terra and Aqua continued their work monitoring various aspects of the Earth system such as land cover, the atmosphere, wildfires, water, clouds and ice. NASA's airborne missions, such as Operation IceBridge, Airborne Snow Observatory and Oceans Melting Greenland, returned data on water movement, providing decision makers with more accurate data than ever before. But there's still more to be done in the future to understand the complex systems that make up Earth's climate and improve the scientific models that will help the world prepare for a warmer future. Using these missions and the science they're gathering as a jumping-off point, students can learn about the water cycle, build data-based scientific models and develop an understanding of Earth's energy systems.

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Astronomical events are a sure-fire way to engage students, and this past decade delivered with exciting solar and lunar eclipses that provided real-world lessons about the Sun, the Moon and lunar exploration. The total solar eclipse that crossed the U.S. in 2017 gave students a chance to learn about the dynamic interactions between the Sun and Moon, while brilliant lunar eclipses year after year provided students with lessons in lunar science. There's more to look forward to in the decade ahead as another solar eclipse comes to the U.S. in 2024 one of nine total solar eclipses around the world in the 2020s. There will be 10 total lunar eclipses in the 2020s, but observing the Moon at any time provides a great opportunity to study celestial patterns and inspire future explorers. Using the lessons below, students can develop and study models to understand the size and scale of the Earth-Moon system, predict future Moon phases and engage in engineering challenges to solve problems that will be faced by future explorers on the Moon!

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The past decade showed us the Red Planet in a whole new light. We discovered evidence that suggests Mars could have once supported ancient life, and we developed a better understanding of how the planet lost much of its atmosphere and surface water. The Opportunity rover continued exploring long past its expected lifespan of 90 days as NASA sent a larger, more technologically advanced rover, Curiosity, to take the next steps in understanding the planet's ability to support life. (Opportunity's nearly 15-year mission succumbed to the elements in 2019 after a global dust storm engulfed Mars, blocking the critical sunlight the rover needed to stay powered.) The InSight lander touched down in 2018 to begin exploring interior features of the Red Planet, including marsquakes, while high above, long-lived spacecraft like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey were joined by NASA's MAVEN Orbiter, and missions from the European Space Agency and the Indian Space Research Organization. The next decade on Mars will get a kick-start with the July launch of the souped-up Mars 2020 rover, which will look for signs of ancient life and begin collecting samples designed to one day be returned to Earth. Mars provides students with countless opportunities to do some of the same engineering as the folks at NASA and design ideas for future Mars exploration. They can also use Mars as a basis for coding activities, real-world math, and lessons in biology and geology.

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This decade marked the final half of the Cassini spacecraft's 13-year mission at Saturn, during which it made countless discoveries about the planet, its rings and its fascinating moons. Some of the most exciting findings highlighted new frontiers in our search for life beyond Earth. Cassini spotted geysers erupting from cracks in the icy shell of Saturn's moon Enceladus, suggesting the presence of an ocean below. At the moon Titan, the spacecraft peered through the hazy atmosphere to discover an Earth-like hydrologic cycle in which liquid methane and ethane take the place of water. Meanwhile, evidence for another ocean world came to light when the Hubble Space Telescope spotted what appear to be geysers erupting from the icy shell surrounding Jupiter's moon Europa. NASA is currently developing Europa Clipper, a mission that will explore the icy moon of Jupiter to reveal even more about the fascinating world. For students, these discoveries and the moons themselves provide opportunities to build scientific models and improve them as they learn more information. Students can also use math to calculate physical properties of moons throughout the solar system and identify the characteristics that define life as we know it.

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The past decade was a big deal for small objects in space. NASA's Dawn mission started 2010 as a new arrival in the main asteroid belt. The next eight years saw Dawn explore the two largest objects in the asteroid belt, the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. On its way to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, ESA's Rosetta mission (with contributions from NASA) flew by the asteroid Luticia in 2010. After more than two years at its destination during which time it measured comet properties, captured breathtaking photos and deposited a lander on the comet Rosetta's mission ended in dramatic fashion in 2016 when it touched down on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In 2013, as scientists around the world eagerly anticipated the near-Earth flyby of asteroid Duende, residents of Chelyabinsk, Russia, got a surprising mid-morning wake-up call when a small, previously undetected asteroid entered the atmosphere, burned as a bright fireball and disintegrated. The team from NASA's OSIRIS-Rex mission wrapped up the decade and set the stage for discoveries in 2020 by selecting the site that the spacecraft will visit in the new year to collect a sample of asteroid Bennu for eventual return to Earth. And in 2022, NASA's Psyche mission will launch for a rendezvous with a type of object never before explored up close: a metal asteroid. The small objects in our solar system present students with chances to explore the composition of comets, use math to calculate properties such as volume, density and kinetic energy of asteroids, and use Newton's Laws in real-world applications, such as spacecraft acceleration.

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In 2015, after nearly a decade of travel, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft arrived at Pluto for its planned flyby and became the first spacecraft to visit the dwarf planet and its moons. The images and scientific data the spacecraft returned brought into focus a complex and dynamic world, including seas of ice and mountain ranges. And there's still more left to explore. But New Horizons' journey is far from over. After its flyby of Pluto, the spacecraft continued deep into the Kuiper Belt, the band of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. In 2019, the spacecraft flew by a snowman-shaped object later named Arrokoth. In the 2020s, New Horizons will continue studying distant Kuiper Belt objects to better understand their physical properties and the region they call home. The new information gathered from the Pluto and Arrokoth flybys provides students with real-life examples of the ways in which scientific understanding changes as additional data is collected and gives them a chance to engage with the data themselves. At the same time, New Horizons' long-distance voyage through the Solar System serves as a good launchpad for discussions of solar system size and scale.

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In 1977, two spacecraft left Earth on a journey to explore the outer planets. In the 2010s, decades after their prime mission ended, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 made history by becoming the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space the region beyond the influence of solar wind from our Sun. The Voyager spacecraft are expected to continue operating into the 2020s, until their fuel and power run out. In the meantime, they will continue sending data back to Earth, shaping our understanding of the structure of the solar system and interstellar space. TheVoyagers can help engage students as they learn about and model the structure of the solar system and use math to understand the challenges of communicating with spacecraft so far away.

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It was only a few decades ago that the first planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, were discovered. The 2010s saw the number of known exoplanets skyrocket in large part thanks to the Kepler mission. A space telescope designed to seek out Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zone the region around a star where liquid water could exist Kepler was used to discover more than 2,600 exoplanets. Discoveries from other observatories and amateur astronomers added to the count, now at more than 4,100. In one of the most momentous exoplanet findings of the decade, the Spitzer telescope discovered that the TRAPPIST-1 system, first thought to have three exoplanets, actually had seven three of which were in the stars habitable zone. With thousands of candidates discovered by Kepler waiting to be confirmed as exoplanets and NASA's latest space telescope, theTransiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, surveying the entire sky, the 2020s promise to be a decade filled with exoplanet science. And we may not have to wait long for exciting new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2021. Exoplanets are a great way to get students exploring concepts in science and mathematics. In the lessons linked to below, students use math to find the size and orbital period of planets, learn how scientists are using spectrometry to determine what makes up exoplanet atmospheres and more.

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Even from millions and billions of light-years away, black holes made big news in the 2010s. First, a collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light-years away sent gravitational waves across the universe that finally reached Earth in 2015, where the waves were detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO. This was the first detection of gravitational waves in history and confirmed a prediction Einstein made 100 years earlier in his Theory of General Relativity. Then, in 2019, a team of researchers working on the Event Horizon Telescope project announced they had taken the first image capturing the silhouette of a black hole. To take the historic image of the supermassive black hole (named M87* after its location at the center of the M87 galaxy), the team had to create a virtual telescope as large as Earth itself. In addition to capturing the world's attention, the image gave scientists new information about scientific concepts and measurements they had only been able to theorize about in the past. The innovations that led to these discoveries are changing the way scientists can study black holes and how they interact with the space around them. More revelations are likely in the years ahead as scientists continue to analyze the data from these projects. For students, black holes and gravitational waves provide a basis for developing and modifying scientific models. Since they are a topic of immense interest to students, they can also be used to encourage independent research.

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TAGS: Teachable Moments, K-12 Education, Educators, Students, STEM, Lessons, Activities, Climate, Moon, Mars, Ocean Worlds, Small Objects, Pluto, Voyager, Exoplanets, Black Holes

Lyle Tavernier, Educational Technology Specialist, NASA/JPL Edu

Lyle Tavernier is an educational technology specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When hes not busy working in the areas of distance learning and instructional technology, you might find him running with his dog, cooking or planning his next trip.

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NASA's 9 Most Teachable Moments This Decade and Beyond - Teachable Moments - NASA/JPL Edu News

Erin Blakemore, The Washington Post

The last time an astronaut walked on the moon was over 50 years ago. Now, NASA has a plan to get back - and help humanity set its sights on even farther destinations in the process.

The Artemis program is the agency's first crewed moon mission in decades.It carries some historic weight on its shoulders.

In Greek mythology, Artemis is the goddess of the moon. She also is the twin sister of Apollo, the god of the ancient Greeks and Romans after whom NASA named its first moon missions. The sister symbolism is doubly intentional: NASA expects the program to bring the first woman to the moon.

The plan is to get her there by 2024 - a date that complies with White House pressure. But budget and timing concerns have plagued the mission. Despite those challenges, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said the agency can find a way to get a mission to the moon within the deadline.

Artemis has multiple goals and a massive to-do list. NASA plans to use U.S. companies to deliver payloads to the moon's surface in preparation for human missions. Then, it will use the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever made, to send the Orion spacecraft on a test mission into lunar orbit and beyond. Afterward, NASA plans to send a crew into orbit and eventually to the moon itself. There are plans for a moon-orbiting command module, the Gateway, too.

All that activity is designed to help scientists learn more about the moon, including its never-explored South Pole, which is thought to be home to ice deposits the agency hopes to study and eventually use.

The project focuses on lunar exploration, but it has an even larger goal. NASA aims to use the moon as a proving ground. The plan is to use the technology and science tested during Artemis to propel a future crewed mission to Mars.

It's an intriguing prospect - but funding and timing will determine Artemis's fate. NASA received less money than it asked for in 2020 appropriations, and it recently clashed with contractor Boeing over whether to fast-track an upper stage of the rocket that will take astronauts to the moon. As a result, it's unclear whether Artemis will unfold according to plans.

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NASA project focuses on moon, with larger goal of sending crewed mission to Mars - SFGate