SRI’s Post

The more observations about the weather and climate we have, the better informed we are to make decisions about the future.

The Sun makes life possible on Earth -- and can make life difficult for teams managing NASA's constellation of Earth observation satellites. Read how solar storms impact satellite orbits, instrument health, and data downloads, and how NASA mission teams work to mitigate these impacts, in a new NASA Earthdata article: https://lnkd.in/epUhxAAQ

Eric Berger has written a great article about the true value of the Mars Helicopter, "Ingenuity" Mass restrictions forced the engineers to use commercial hardware rather than traditional space-rated hardware. Commercial hardware, such as computer chips, have advanced at an exponetially greater rate than the space-rated hardware. For example, "Ingenuity" used a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. The Snapdragon costs less than $150 and weighs half an ounce. In comparison, the standard NASA computer that has been used on every NASA big mission beyond earth orbit, the RAD750, costs $250,000 and weighs more than one pound. In addition, the Snapdragon has more than 100 times the processing power...than all the RAD750s launched sinced 1977...combined! This is a seismic development for the space industry.  There has always been a catch-22 when it came to space hardware. One could have the best new piece of equipment, but no one would use it until it was space-rated. But you couldn't get space-rated until someone actually used it in a space vehicle. Now that NASA has taken the risk and proved that regular commercial parts can be used even in high-profile missions, it dramatically lowers the cost of entry for aerospace companies with a good idea of how to use space. And it should energize the space-hardware market. This is where NASA is at its best. Trailblazing new ideas and ways of doing business so that commercial companies can follow. Well done to the entire "Ingenuity" team. https://lnkd.in/emiAZSF5

This paper analyzes the lunar terrain effects on the signal propagation of the planned NASA lunar wireless communication and sensor systems. 🌙 #WirelessInSite #throwbackthursday

My Question to Chat gpt Would you like to tell me about Voyager 1 and how it sends data and information about the universe to Earth or a space station? It is traveling far from Earth, so how does it connect to the space station or Earth? (Answer of Chat gpt) Voyager 1, a spacecraft launched by NASA in 1977, is still operational and transmitting data back to Earth, providing valuable insights into the outer regions of our solar system and beyond. Despite its immense distance from Earth, Voyager 1 communicates with Earth using radio waves and a high-gain antenna (HGA) that can send data back at a rate of about 160 bits per second. Data is collected using various instruments and sensors and stored onboard in memory banks. Voyager 1 points its antenna towards Earth and periodically transmits the stored data back to the DSN antennas. Data reception occurs at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where scientists analyze, decode, and interpret the findings. The DSN can also send commands to Voyager 1, controlling its instruments, adjusting its trajectory, or performing other tasks. Voyager 1's ability to communicate with Earth demonstrates the remarkable capabilities of human technology and our curiosity to explore the universe around us.

We should be talking about this near catastrophic incident a lot more. We need space governance and international space traffic management (https://lnkd.in/eyH9A6mp) yesterday.

New NASA Software Simulates Science Missions for Observing Terrestrial Freshwater: From radar instruments smaller than a shoebox to radiometers the size of a milk carton, there are more tools available to scientists today for observing complex Earth systems than ever before. But this abundance of available sensors creates its own unique challenge: how can researchers organize these diverse instruments in the most efficient way for […]

Read about NASA's latest demonstration for its laser communication system!

https://lnkd.in/eb83qj8Q Launched a small satellite for NASA to monitor heat emissions from the poles. https://lnkd.in/eFVRYfr4 please visit our website A small satellite belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was launched from New Zealand on Saturday to make the first detailed measurements of the heat emitted into space by the Earth's poles. The mission, called PREFIRE, is designed to improve scientists' understanding of climate change. Karen St. Germain, NASA's director of Earth science research, said at a press conference in mid-May: "The new information we will get for the first time will help us develop a model of what is happening at the poles. The shoebox-sized satellite was launched on an Electron rocket built by Rocket Lab from Mahia in northern New Zealand. The same company will later launch a similar satellite. The two satellites will take far-infrared measurements over the North and South Poles to directly determine, for the first time, the amount of heat being emitted into space. The mission's science director, Tristan Lequier of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, explained that this emission phenomenon "is important because it helps balance the excess heat coming from the tropics and regulates the Earth's temperature. Read more

#Ingenuity #Marshelicopter The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made its 72nd and final flight on 18 January. “While the helicopter remains upright and in communication with ground controllers,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab said in a press release this afternoon, “imagery of its Jan. 18 flight sent to Earth this week indicates one or more of its rotor blades sustained damage during landing, and it is no longer capable of flight.” That’s what you’re seeing in the picture above: the shadow of a broken tip of one of the helicopter’s four two-foot long carbon fiber rotor blades. NASA is assuming that at least one blade struck the Martian surface during a “rough landing,” and this is not the kind of damage that will allow the helicopter to get back into the air. Ingenuity’s mission is over. --- The Perseverance rover took this picture of Ingenuity on on Aug. 2, 2023, just before flight 54.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS NASA held a press conference earlier this evening to give as much information as they can about exactly what happened to Ingenuity, and what comes next. First, here’s a summary from the press release: Ingenuity’s team planned for the helicopter to make a short vertical flight on Jan. 18 to determine its location after executing an emergency landing on its previous flight. Data shows that, as planned, the helicopter achieved a maximum altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) and hovered for 4.5 seconds before starting its descent at a velocity of 3.3 feet per second (1 meter per second). However, about 3 feet (1 meter) above the surface, Ingenuity lost contact with the rover, which serves as a communications relay for the rotorcraft. The following day, communications were reestablished and more information about the flight was relayed to ground controllers at NASA JPL. Imagery revealing damage to the rotor blade arrived several days later. The cause of the communications dropout and the helicopter’s orientation at time of touchdown are still being investigated. While NASA doesn’t know for sure what happened, they do have some ideas based on the cause of the emergency landing during the previous flight, Flight 71. “[This location] is some of the hardest terrain we’ve ever had to navigate over,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Project Manager at NASA JPL, during the NASA press conference. “It’s very featureless—bland, sandy terrain. And that’s why we believe that during Flight 71, we had an emergency landing. She was flying over the surface and was realizing that there weren’t too many rocks to look at or features to navigate from, and that’s why Ingenuity called an emergency landing on her own.” Ingenuity uses a downward-pointing VGA camera running at 30hz for monocular feature tracking, and compares the apparent motion of distinct features between frames to… https://lnkd.in/ggVzmwDQ via @IEEESpectrum