And That’s A Wrap!! Thank You For All The Wonderful Questions In This Tumblr Answer Time, And We Hope

The As, Gs, Cs and Ts of the Space Station: First In-Space Microbe Identification

Being able to identify microbes in real-time aboard the International Space Station, without having to send them back to Earth for identification first, would be totally amazing for the world of microbiology and space exploration.

The Genes in Space 3 team turned that possibility into a reality this year, when it completed the first-ever sample-to-sequence process entirely aboard the space station.

The ability to identify microbes in space could aid in the ability to diagnose and treat astronauts in real time, as well as assisting in the identification of life on other planets. It could also benefit other experiments aboard the space station.

HELPFUL SCIENCE HINT: Identifying microbes involves isolating the DNA of samples, and then amplifying – or making lots and lots (and LOTS) of copies - of that DNA that can then be sequenced, or identified.  

As part of regular monitoring, petri plates were touched to various surfaces of the space station. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson transferred cells from growing bacterial colonies on those plates into miniature test tubes, something that had never been done before in space (first OMG moment!).

Once the cells were successfully collected, it was time to isolate the DNA and prepare it for sequencing, enabling the identification of the unknown organisms – another first for space microbiology.

Enter Hurricane Harvey. *thunder booms*

“We started hearing the reports of Hurricane Harvey the week in between Peggy performing the first part of collecting the sample and gearing up for the actual sequencing,” said Sarah Wallace, the project’s primary investigator.

When our Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston became inaccessible due hurricane conditions, Marshall Space Flight Center’s Payload Operations Integration Center in Huntsville, Alabama worked to connect Wallace to Whitson using Wallace’s personal cell phone.

With a hurricane wreaking havoc outside, Wallace and Whitson set out to make history.

The data were downlinked to the team in Houston for analysis and identification.

“Once we actually got the data on the ground we were able to turn it around and start analyzing it,” said Aaron Burton, the project’s co-investigator. “You get all these squiggle plots and you have to turn that into As, Gs, Cs and Ts.”

Those As, Gs, Cs and Ts are more than just a nerdy alphabet – they are Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine – the four bases that make up each strand of DNA and can tell you what organism the strand of DNA came from. 

“Right away, we saw one microorganism pop up, and then a second one, and they were things that we find all the time on the space station,” said Wallace. “The validation of these results would be when we got the sample back to test on Earth.”

Soon after, the samples returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz spacecraft, along with Whitson.

With the samples now in the team’s JSC lab, tests were completed in ground labs to confirm the findings from the space station. They ran the tests again and again, and then once more, to confirm accuracy. Each time, the results were exactly the same on the ground as in orbit. (second OMG moment!)

“We did it. Everything worked perfectly,” said Sarah Stahl, microbiologist.

This capability could change future space exploration.

“As a microbiologist,” said Wallace, “My goal is really so that when we go and we move beyond ISS and we’re headed towards Mars or the moon or wherever we are headed to, we have a process that the crew can have that great understanding of the environment, based on molecular technology.”

For more information, follow @ISS_Research. 

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Anil Menon

Anil Menon was a first responder for earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal. Menon supported astronauts on the International Space Station as a NASA flight surgeon, later joining SpaceX as their first flight surgeon in 2018. https://go.nasa.gov/3SVVK4Y

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Roman’s Five-Year Forecast: A Downpour of Data!

Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope recently passed a major review of the ground system, which will make data from the spacecraft available to scientists and the public.

Since the telescope has a gigantic field of view, it will be able to send us tons of data really quickly — about 500 times faster than our Hubble Space Telescope! That means Roman will send back a flood of new information about the cosmos.

Let’s put it into perspective — if we printed out all of Roman’s data as text, the paper would have to hurtle out of the printer at 40,000 miles per hour (64,000 kilometers per hour) to keep up! At that rate, the stack of papers would tower 330 miles (530 kilometers) high after a single day. By the end of Roman’s five-year primary mission, the stack would extend even farther than the Moon! With all this data, Roman will bring all kinds of cosmic treasures to light, from dark matter and dark energy to distant planets and more!

Learn more about the Roman Space Telescope.

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Solar System: Things to Know  This Week

This week, we’re looking at MAVEN’s exploration of Mars, the Orionid meteor showers, Mercury’s “great valley” and more.

1. Celebrating MAVEN

MAVEN, the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution, was the second mission selected for our Mars Scout program and the first to explore the planet’s upper atmosphere . It launched on November 18, 2013 and entered orbit around Mars on September 21, 2014. 

+ MAVEN Quick Facts

2. Jupiter Moon Dance

This time-lapse sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images shows Jupiter’s moon Europa as it moved across the planet’s face over the course of 19 minutes. Europa is at the bottom center on Jupiter's disk, the Great Red Spot to the left and Europa's shadow to its right. The video was created by combining six snapshots taken in ultraviolet light with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3.

+ Learn more

3. The Orionid Meteor Shower

Orionid shower peaks November 28. Look for the constellation Orion in the Southeast sky by 9 p.m. Using binoculars, look for the Orion Nebula. 

4. Comet Warming Up!! 

Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdu áková will brighten to expected stunning binocular visibility in mid to late December, but is near Venus on November 23rd.

+ Track the Comet

5. Mercury’s "Great Valley"

A newly discovered "great valley" in the southern hemisphere of Mercury provides more evidence that the planet closest to the sun is shrinking. Using stereo images from our MESSENGER spacecraft to create a high-resolution map, scientists have discovered that revealed the broad valley -- more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long -- extending into the Rembrandt basin, one of the largest and youngest impact basins on Mercury. About 250 miles (400 kilometers) wide and 2 miles (3 kilometers) deep, Mercury's great valley is smaller than Mars' Valles Marineris, but larger than North America's Grand Canyon and wider and deeper than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

+ Learn more

Discover the full list of 10 things to know about our solar system this week HERE.

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Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Our Dawn mission to the asteroid belt is no ordinary deep space expedition. 

Instead of traditional chemical rockets, the spacecraft uses sophisticated ion engines for propulsion. This enabled Dawn to become the first mission to orbit not one, but two different worlds — first the giant asteroid Vesta and now the dwarf planet Ceres. Vesta and Ceres formed early in the solar system's history, and by studying them, the mission is helping scientists go back in time to the dawn of the planets. To mark a decade since Dawn was launched on Sept. 27, 2007, here are 10 things to know about this trailblazing mission.

1. Ion Engines: Not Just for Sci-Fi Anymore

Most rocket engines use chemical reactions for propulsion, which tend to be powerful but short-lived. Dawn's futuristic, hyper-efficient ion propulsion system works by using electricity to accelerate ions (charged particles) from xenon fuel to a speed seven to 10 times that of chemical engines. Ion engines accelerate the spacecraft slowly, but they're very thrifty with fuel, using just milligrams of xenon per second (about 10 ounces over 24 hours) at maximum thrust. Without its ion engines, Dawn could not have carried enough fuel to go into orbit around two different solar system bodies. Try your hand at an interactive ion engine simulation.

2. Time Capsules 

Scientists have long wanted to study Vesta and Ceres up close. Vesta is a large, complex and intriguing asteroid. Ceres is the largest object in the entire asteroid belt, and was once considered a planet in its own right after it was discovered in 1801. Vesta and Ceres have significant differences, but both are thought to have formed very early in the history of the solar system, harboring clues about how planets are constructed. Learn more about Ceres and Vesta—including why we have pieces of Vesta here on Earth.

3. Portrait of a Dwarf Planet

This view of Ceres built from Dawn photos is centered on Occator Crater, home of the famous "bright spots." The image resolution is about 460 feet (140 meters) per pixel.

Take a closer look.

4. What's in a Name? 

Craters on Ceres are named for agricultural deities from all over the world, and other features carry the names of agricultural festivals. Ceres itself was named after the Roman goddess of corn and harvests (that's also where the word "cereal" comes from). The International Astronomical Union recently approved 25 new Ceres feature names tied to the theme of agricultural deities. Jumi, for example, is the Latvian god of fertility of the field. Study the full-size map.

5. Landslides or Ice Slides? 

Thanks to Dawn, evidence is mounting that Ceres hides a significant amount of water ice. A recent study adds to this picture, showing how ice may have shaped the variety of landslides seen on Ceres today.

6. The Lonely Mountain 

Ahuna Mons, a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain, puzzled Ceres explorers when they first found it. It rises all alone above the surrounding plains. Now scientists think it is likely a cryovolcano — one that erupts a liquid made of volatiles such as water, instead of rock. "This is the only known example of a cryovolcano that potentially formed from a salty mud mix, and that formed in the geologically recent past," one researcher said. Learn more.

7. Shining a Light on the Bright Spots 

The brightest area on Ceres, located in the mysterious Occator Crater, has the highest concentration of carbonate minerals ever seen outside Earth, according to studies from Dawn scientists. Occator is 57 miles (92 kilometers) wide, with a central pit about 6 miles (10 kilometers) wide. The dominant mineral of this bright area is sodium carbonate, a kind of salt found on Earth in hydrothermal environments. This material appears to have come from inside Ceres, and this upwelling suggests that temperatures inside Ceres are warmer than previously believed. Even more intriguingly, the results suggest that liquid water may have existed beneath the surface of Ceres in recent geological time. The salts could be remnants of an ocean, or localized bodies of water, that reached the surface and then froze millions of years ago. See more details.

8. Captain's Log 

Dawn's chief engineer and mission director, Marc Rayman, provides regular dispatches about Dawn's work in the asteroid belt. Catch the latest updates here.

9. Eyes on Dawn 

Another cool way to retrace Dawn's decade-long flight is to download NASA's free Eyes on the Solar System app, which uses real data to let you go to any point in the solar system, or ride along with any spacecraft, at any point in time—all in 3-D.

10. No Stamp Required

Send a postcard from one of these three sets of images that tell the story of dwarf planet Ceres, protoplanet Vesta, and the Dawn mission overall.

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Take a dive between Saturn and its rings to see what our Cassini spacecraft saw during its first daring plunge on April 26! 

As Cassini made its first-ever dive through the gap between Saturn and its rings on April 26, 2017, one of its imaging cameras took a series of rapid-fire images that were used to make this movie sequence. The video begins with a view of the vortex at Saturn's north pole, then heads past the outer boundary of the planet's hexagon-shaped jet stream and continues further southward. 

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Moon Mascot Needed!

Have you ever wanted to design something that could fly around the Moon? This is your opportunity. The Artemis II astronauts will use a zero gravity indicator during their mission to demonstrate when the Orion spacecraft has reached microgravity. This plushie needs to be soft, small, and importantly, remind us of home. The Moon Mascot contest challenges people of all ages from all over the world to submit a design to be made by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab and flown aboard Artemis II. To submit a design for the contest, visit: freelancer.com/moon-mascot

The Invisible Network: A New NASA Podcast

We sit on the precipice of a golden age of space exploration — a renaissance of space science and technology. Every day, our missions send millions of bits of data to Earth, unraveling long-held mysteries about the universe, our solar system and even our own planet. But what makes it all possible?

Today we debut a new, limited edition podcast called “The Invisible Network.” It brings you a side of NASA you may have never seen or heard of before — oft overlooked technologies crucial to spaceflight and humanity’s ambitions among the stars.

Communications is the vital link between Earth and space. A collection of far-flung ground stations enabled the Apollo missions: our first steps on the Moon; the Voyager missions: our first brushes with interstellar space; and supported the earliest space and Earth science missions, expanding our knowledge of the stars and of ourselves.

Today, our communications networks are vastly different than those that supported Apollo. Tomorrow’s networks will be even more advanced.

“The Invisible Network” explores technological innovations guiding us into the future. These seemingly un-sexy feats of engineering will allow us to return to the Moon, journey to Mars and venture ever-further into the unknown.

Artist’s rendering of the upcoming Orion missions.

Our podcast’s title, "The Invisible Network," comes from author and former NASA engineer Sunny Tsiao’s book, “Read You Loud and Clear,” published in 2008. Tsiao notes that our communications and tracking programs are often described as “invisible.” Infrastructures, he writes, are seldom recognized, except when they fall short.

If our networks are invisible, perhaps it’s because they work so well.

We hope you’ll join us on our journey into The Invisible Network. Subscribe to the show and share us with a friend. For more information visit nasa.gov/invisible or nasa.gov/scan.

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What do you hope to find on the mars? / What would be the best possible outcome?

Find Out Why We’re Blasting this Rocket with Wind

The world’s most powerful rocket – our Space Launch System (SLS) – may experience ground wind gusts of up to 70 mph as it sits on the launch pad before and during lift off for future missions. Understanding how environmental factors affect the rocket will help us maintain a safe and reliable distance away from the launch tower during launch.

How do we even test this? Great question! Our Langley Research Center’s 14x22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel in Hampton, Virginia, is designed to simulate wind conditions. Rather than having to test a full scale rocket, we’re able to use a smaller, to-scale model of the spacecraft.

Wind tunnel tests are a cost effective and efficient way to simulate situations where cross winds and ground winds affect different parts of the rocket. The guidance, navigation, and control team uses the test data as part of their simulations to identify the safety distance between the rocket and the launch tower.  

SLS is designed to evolve as we move crew and cargo farther into the solar system than we have ever been before. The Langley team tested the second more powerful version of the SLS rocket, known as the Block 1B, in both the crew and cargo configuration. 

Take a behind-the-scenes look at the hard work being done to support safe explorations to deep-space...

Below, an engineer simulates ground winds on the rocket during liftoff by using what’s called smoke flow visualization. This technique allows engineers to see how the wind flow behaves as it hits the surface of the launch tower model.

The 6-foot model of the SLS rocket undergoes 140 mph wind speeds in Langley’s 14x22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel. Engineers are simulating ground winds impacting the rocket as it leaves the launch pad.

The cargo version of the rocket is positioned at a 0-degree angle to simulate the transition from liftoff to ascent as the rocket begins accelerating through the atmosphere.

Here, engineers create a scenario where the rocket has lifted off 100 feet in the air past the top of the launch tower. At this point in the mission, SLS is moving at speeds of about 100 mph!

Engineers at Langley collect data throughout the test which is used by the rocket developers at our Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to analyze and incorporate into the rocket’s design.

Learn more about our Space Launch System rocket HERE. 

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