THIS WEEK @NASA: Building International Support for Artemis, Selecting New Missions to Study the Sun

By  //  June 21, 2019

Latest Happenings around NASA

ABOVE VIDEO: Building the international effort to go forward to the Moon, selecting new missions to study the Sun and dropping a plane for safety … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Building International Support for Artemis

Our Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, was at the Paris Air Show this week, meeting with leaders from international space agencies to discuss our plans to put the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024 with our Artemis program.

He also spoke with media and other groups, and met world leaders, including the French President and the Italian Prime Minister.

Celebrating Ten Years of Lunar Exploration

Our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has now been exploring the Moon for 10 years, and continues to collect vast amounts of data vital to our understanding of the lunar landscape and environment, our solar system, and to our future exploration goals for the Moon and Mars. LRO’s research is paving the way forward for a human return to the Moon with Artemis.

Small Satellite Concepts Target Moon, Mars and Beyond

NASA has selected three finalists among a dozen concepts for future small satellites mission. The finalists include Janus, a mission to study two asteroid systems … EscaPADE, twin spacecraft to study the effects of energetic particles around Mars … and Lunar Trailblazer, an orbiter to study water on the Moon. At least one of these missions is expected to move to final selection and flight.

New Missions to Study Our Sun and Space Weather

We’ve selected two new missions to advance our understanding of the Sun and its dynamic effects on space. The PUNCH mission will study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, and how it generates the solar wind. The TRACERS mission will study Earth’s response to the sun by observing the magnetic field around the North Pole

Astrobee Takes Flight on the International Space Station

Our new free-flying robot known as Astrobee has taken its first steps to autonomous flight aboard the International Space Station.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques tested the Astrobee robot known as “Bumble” for its sighting and motion abilities aboard the orbital lab. Bumble and the other robots, “Honey” and “Queen” may someday support routine maintenance tasks and lab monitoring.

Langley Crash-Tests Plane for Safety

Our NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia crash-tested a Fokker F-28 airplane for the Federal Aviation Administration. It’s the largest aircraft ever dropped at the center’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The test used crash-test dummies to measure crash response and likelihood of injury, generating data that can be used in computer simulations to improve future airline safety.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA

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