“Here’s some of the stories trending This
Week at NASA!”
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden joined other
leaders of the world’s space agencies to
discuss the latest technological breakthroughs
and developments in space exploration at the
67th International Astronautical Congress,
Sept. 26-30th in Guadalajara, Mexico.
At the event, NASA discussed new elements
to its multi-phase Journey to Mars to extend
the human footprint all the way to the Red
Planet.
NASA will continue operations aboard the International
Space Station through 2024.
Work currently underway aboard the station
to encourage commercial development of low-Earth
orbit, develop deep space systems, life support
and human health is part of the Earth Reliant
phase of the Journey to Mars.
In the 2020s, during the Proving Ground phase
when NASA steps out farther, the agency now
plans to send an astronaut crew on a yearlong
mission to a deep space destination near the
moon.
They will conduct activities to verify habitation
and test our readiness for Mars.
A round-trip robotic Mars sample return mission
is being targeted for the 2020s, as part of
the Earth Independent phase before finally
sending humans on a mission to orbit Mars
in the early 2030s.
On Sept. 27, NASA Administrator Bolden named
Thomas Zurbuchen as the agency’s new associate
administrator for the Science Mission Directorate.
Zurbuchen is a professor of space science
and aerospace engineering at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
His experience includes research in solar
and heliospheric physics, experimental space
research, space systems, and innovation and
entrepreneurship.
Zurbuchen’s new role at NASA officially
begins on Oct. 3.
Astronomer’s using NASA’s Hubble Space
Telescope have imaged what may be high-altitude
water vapor plumes erupting off the surface
of Jupiter's moon Europa.
The plumes are estimated to rise about 125
miles before presumably raining material back
down onto the surface.
This finding bolsters other Hubble observations
suggesting the existence of the water vapor
plumes.
It also might provide opportunities to gather
samples originating from the moon’s sub-surface
ocean without having to land a spacecraft
or drill through Europa’s icy surface.
Following its launch in 2018, NASA may also
use the infrared vision of the James Webb
Space Telescope to confirm venting or plume
activity on Europa.
The agency also is formulating a mission to
Europa with a payload that could confirm the
presence of the plumes and study them from
close range during multiple flybys.
On Sept. 30, the European Space Agency’s
Rosetta mission concluded with a planned,
controlled decent of the spacecraft from its
orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,
onto the comet’s surface.
The mission, which launched in 2004 and included
several NASA science instruments, is the first
in history to rendezvous with a comet and
escort it as it orbits the sun.
In Nov. 2014, Philae, a small lander deployed
from the Rosetta spacecraft, obtained the
first images taken from a comet's surface
and sent back valuable scientific data to
Earth.
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center,
in Edwards, California, is celebrating 70
years of atmospheric flight research operations
for the agency.
Armstrong, which began its storied history
in September 1946, initially focused on experimental
aircraft called X-planes.
In the decades that have followed, the center’s
mission expanded to include roles in the Space
Shuttle Program, aviation safety, and airborne
science and technology advancement.
Armstrong is returning to the age of X-planes
with NASA's first electric propulsion aircraft,
named the X-57.
The aircraft could lead to advances in fuel
efficiency and reductions in noise and emissions.
And that’s what’s up this week @NASA …
 
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