NASA is preparing the SLS (Situation Open Intention) rocket core stage that will support energy the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis campaign for shipment. On July 6, NASA and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, moved the Artemis II rocket stage to one more phase of the company’s Michoud Assembly Facility. The switch comes as teams put together to roll the wide rocket stage to the company’s Pegasus barge for shipping to NASA’s Kennedy Situation Center in mid-July.
Earlier than the switch, technicians began laying aside external rep admission to stands, or scaffolding, surrounding the rocket stage in early June. NASA and Boeing teams former the scaffolding surrounding the core stage to assess the inside of aspects, including its complex avionics and propulsion systems. The 212-foot core stage has two mountainous propellant tanks, avionics and flight computer systems, and four RS-25 engines, which together enable the stage to operate for the duration of commence and flight.
The stage is fully manufactured and assembled at Michoud. Building, assembling, and transporting is a joint course of for NASA, Boeing, and lead RS-25 engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company.
NASA is working to land the first lady, first particular person of colour, and its first world partner astronaut on the Moon below Artemis. SLS is phase of NASA’s spine for deep home exploration, alongside with the Orion spacecraft, supporting floor systems, developed spacesuits and rovers, the Gateway in orbit across the Moon, and commercial human landing systems. SLS is basically the most productive rocket that will presumably presumably ship Orion, astronauts, and offers to the Moon in a single commence.
NASA’s Marshall Situation Flight Center manages the SLS Program and Michoud.
By Rick Smith
A miniature community of scientists on the biofilm mitigation crew at NASA’s Marshall Situation Center see alternatives to wrestle mercurial-rising colonies of micro organism or fungi, is called biofilm, for future home missions.
Biofilm occurs when a cluster of micro organism or fungi generates a slimy matrix of “extracellular polymeric substances” to defend itself from adversarial environmental factors. Biofilm is also stumbled on almost anyplace, from the grey-green scum floating on stagnant pond water to the pinkish ring of residue in a dirty bathtub.
For scientific, food production, and wastewater processing industries, biofilm is in total a costly danger. But offworld, biofilm proves to be even extra resilient.
“Micro organism shrug off quite a lot of the challenges humans contend with in home, including microgravity, stress adjustments, ultraviolet light, nutrient ranges, even radiation,” talked about Yo-Ann Velez-Justiniano, a Marshall microbiologist and environmental adjust systems engineer.
“Biofilm is icky, sticky – and difficult to abolish,” talked about Liezel Koellner, a chemical engineer and NASA Pathways intern from North Carolina Disclose College in Raleigh. Koellner former sophisticated epifluorescence microscopy, 3D visualizations of 2D photos captured at assorted focal planes, to magnificent-tune the crew’s compare.
Keenly attentive to the seemingly hurdles biofilm would possibly possibly presumably presumably pose in future Artemis-skills spacecraft and lunar habitats, NASA tasked engineers and chemists at Marshall to see mitigation tactics. Marshall constructed and maintains the World Situation Spot’s ECLSS (Atmosphere Management and Existence Enhance Intention) and is creating next-skills air and water reclamation and recycling technologies, including the machine’s wastewater tank assembly.
“The wastewater tank is ‘upstream’ from most of our constructed-in water purification programs. Since it’s a wastewater feed tank, micro organism and fungus grow smartly there, producing ample biofilm to clog waft paths and pipes alongside the route,” talked about Eric Beitle, ECLSS take a look at engineer at Marshall.
To this point, the resolution has been to drag and replace extinct hardware once aspects change into choked with biofilm. But engineers pick on to take care of a long way from the need for such ways.
“Even with the flexibility to 3D-print spare aspects on the Moon or Mars, it makes sense to rep programs that close biofilm buildup in the first put,” talked about Velez-Justiniano.
The crew took step one in June 2023 by publishing the full genome sequence of a whole lot of lines of micro organism isolated from the home predicament’s water reclamation machine, all of which cultivate biofilm formation.
They next designed a take a look at stand simulating stipulations in the wastewater tank about 250 miles overhead, which enables simultaneous see of extra than one mitigation alternatives. The rig housed eight Centers for Disease Management and Prevention biofilm reactors – cylindrical devices roughly the size of a runner’s water bottle – every 1/sixtieth the size of the staunch tank.
Every bioreactor holds up to 21 outlandish take a look at samples on slides, bathed continuously in a waft of valid or ersatz wastewater, timed and measured by the automatic machine, and carefully monitored by the crew. Thanks to the compact bioreactor size, the take a look at stand required 2.1 gallons of ersatz waft per week, continuously trickling 0.1 milliliters per minute into every of the eight bioreactors.
“Actually, we constructed a series of dinky systems that every needed to enable minute adjustments to temperature and stress, take care of a sterile environment, provide autoclave functionality, and disappear in team spirit for weeks at a time with minimal human intervention,” Beitle talked about. “One share of the take a look at sequence ran nonstop for 65 days, and one more lasted 77 days. It became once a clear field from an engineering perspective.”
Assorted surface mitigation programs, upstream counteragents, antimicrobial coatings, and temperature ranges had been introduced in every bioreactor. One promising take a look at concerned duckweed, a plant already identified as a pure water purification machine and for its means to capture toxins and adjust wastewater odor. By devouring nutrients upstream of the bioreactor, the duckweed denied the micro organism what it needs to thrive, reducing biofilm boost by up to ninety 9.9%.
Over the course of the three-month attempting out interval, teams eradicated samples from every bioreactor at typical intervals and willing for see below a microscope to originate a detailed count of the biofilm colony-forming items on every plate.
“Micro organism and fungi are neat,” Velez-Justiniano talked about. “They adapt. We learn about that it’s going to take a combination of efficient biofilm mitigation tips on how to overcome this field.”
Biofilm poses as a downside to long-interval spaceflight and extended missions on assorted worlds where replacement aspects is also costly or tense to execute. The biofilm mitigation crew continues to assess and publish findings, alongside tutorial and replace companions, and would possibly possibly presumably presumably per chance extra their compare with a elephantine-scale tank experiment at Marshall. They hope to growth to flight tests, experimenting with a mode of mitigation programs in valid microgravity stipulations in orbit to rep alternatives to take care of surfaces orderly, water potable, and future explorers healthy.
Smith, an Aeyon/MTS employee, helps the Marshall Disclose of job of Communications.
By Rick Smith
Liezel Koellner is a NASA Pathways intern pursuing her master’s level in chemical engineering from North Carolina Disclose College in Raleigh. Admire most audacious young engineers, she sought a range of assorted internships to prolong her classwork.
But once she bought word she’d been chosen to exhaust the spring 2024 interval of time conducting biochemistry experiments at NASA’s Marshall Situation Flight Center, her preference became once made.
“As a baby, I below no circumstances imagined I will also work at NASA,” she talked about. “It became once a ideas-blowing belief!”
That’s how she trouble up spending the semester up to her security gloves in bacterial goo – helping NASA’s biofilm mitigation crew see programs for vanquishing a pervasive, slimy invader playing havoc with home-basically based completely hardware. And Koellner couldn’t be happier.
Biofilm is the sticky goo generated by micro organism or fungi to armor itself in opposition to radiation, airlessness, and various stipulations in home. Astronauts retain their environment somewhat ship-form – but inside of closed water reclamation systems, adore the one on the World Situation Spot, biofilm can thrive, wreaking havoc on serious existence toughen systems.
Becoming a member of a crew of Marshall microbiologists, chemists, and hardware engineers, Koellner spent weeks cultivating sample micro organism – either simulated stuff chemically created onsite or samples shipped frozen from NASA and Boeing archives. She carefully monitored ongoing tests, on a typical foundation pulling samples to count biofilm colonies.
Most importantly, she oversaw the exercise of precision epifluorescence microscopy, which employs 3D visualizations to establish layered boost in 2D sample photos. That contribution most impressed Marshall microbiologist Yo-Ann Velez-Justiniano, Koellner’s supervisor and mission mentor, who talked about it dramatically improved info accuracy.
“Liezel became once ready to extra precisely analyze patterns of sample boost and bring exact quantitative info identifying biofilm development,” Velez-Justiniano talked about.
A system for fulfillment
Koellner talked about she’s continuously been driven to take in as worthy shining skills as seemingly. She became once born in Guam to Filipino parents who later emigrated to San Diego, California, to lift their family. From a young age, she took faculty very critically.
“I continuously enjoyed chemistry, staring at scientific processes and documenting the effects,” Koellner talked about, but she became once daunted by the challenges of calculus-basically based completely physics, former to mannequin systems where alternate occurs and an integral phase of scientific fields serving home exploration, engineering, pharmacology, and extra.
That modified when she bought to the College of North Carolina in Wilmington. “All in an instant, all the pieces clicked,” she talked about. “With physics, it became once wonderful to ogle how math will seemingly be utilized to valid-existence capabilities.”
That shining blend of disciplines led her to love in ideas a profession in chemical engineering – the exercise of chemical processes to love products and assets for commercial uses. After finishing her bachelor’s level in chemistry at the College of North Carolina in 2022 and spending a 300 and sixty five days as a chemist for a non-public lab in Wilmington, she enrolled at North Carolina Disclose, where she expects to graduate in 2026 with a master’s in chemical engineering.
From water reclamation to air recycling
With the biofilm mitigation tests performed – but her internship continuing till August – Koellner has shifted tracks, transferring from the challenges of water reclamation to oxygen recovery alternatives for future home habitats and on assorted worlds.
She’s phase of a clear crew of Marshall ECLSS (Atmosphere Management and Existence Enhance Intention) experts, learning ways to rep smartly oxygen from methane gas. That functionality would possibly possibly presumably presumably toughen a range of oxygen recovery and recycling systems, saving and storing breathable air in put of valid jettisoning it into home alongside with kill gas products. Koellner will write documentation and support visual display unit and operate the active take a look at stand, once extra working alongside Marshall experts from a mode of disciplines.
She talked about their dedication has left a lasting impact.
“All and sundry is so willing to lend their skills to pursue work that can even impact NASA missions years or even decades in the longer term,” she talked about. “The diligence and enthusiasm here are tangible issues. That’s the roughly engineer – the roughly particular person – I deserve to be.”
Smith, an Aeyon/MTS employee, helps the Marshall Disclose of job of Communications.
Lisa Bates has been named director of the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Marshall Situation Flight Center, efficient July 14. In her new role, Bates will seemingly be accountable for the heart’s ideal organization, made from higher than 2,500 civil carrier and contractor personnel, who produce, take a look at, review, and operate flight hardware and machine associated with Marshall-developed home transportation and spacecraft systems, science devices, and payloads.
Since November 2023, Bates has served as deputy director of the Engineering Directorate. She became once moreover previously director of Marshall’s Test Laboratory. Appointed to the arrangement in 2021, Bates offered government management for all facets of the Laboratory, including crew, finances, infrastructure, and operations for attempting out.
She joined Marshall in 2008 as the Ares I Higher Stage Thrust Vector Management lead in the Propulsion Department. Since then, she has served in positions of accelerating responsibility and authority. From 2009 to 2017, she served as the first chief of the new TVC Department, which became once accountable for defining operational necessities, performing evaluation, and evaluating Open Vehicle TVC systems and TVC substances.
Because the Situation Open Intention (SLS) Program Govt from 2017 to 2018, Bates supported the NASA Deputy Companion Administrator for Exploration Systems Building as the liaison and recommend of the SLS. Upon returning to MSFC in 2018, she became once chosen as deputy manager of the SLS Booster Element Disclose of job. Bates moreover served as deputy manager of the SLS Stages Disclose of job from 2018 to 2021 where she shared the tasks, accountability, and authorities for all activities associated with the necessities definition, produce, pattern, manufacturing, assembly, green disappear take a look at, and shipping of the SLS Program’s Stages Element.
Earlier than her NASA profession, Bates labored 18 years in non-public replace for a monumental preference of aerospace and defense contractors, including Jacobs Engineering, Marotta Scientific Controls, United Technologies (USBI), United Protection, and Sverdrup Technologies.
Bates holds a bachelor’s level in mechanical engineering from the College of Alabama in Huntsville. She became once awarded a NASA Excellent Management Medal in 2013 and 2022 and has bought a monumental preference of community and particular particular person fulfillment awards.
Technicians snatch NASA’s Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and Intention Trying out cell at NASA’s Kennedy Situation Center on June 28. The constructed-in spacecraft, which is able to be former for the Artemis II mission to orbit the Moon, has been undergoing closing rounds of attempting out and assembly, including close-to-close performance verification of its subsystems and checking for leaks in its propulsion systems. A 30-ton crane returned Orion into the no longer too long ago renovated altitude chamber where it underwent electromagnetic attempting out. The spacecraft now will maintain a series of tests that will field it to a end to-vacuum environment by laying aside air, thus making a home where the stress is extremely low. This leads to no environment, such as the one the spacecraft will skills for the duration of future lunar missions. The knowledge recorded for the duration of these tests will seemingly be former to qualify the spacecraft to securely hover the Artemis II astronauts throughout the cruel environment of home. (NASA/Radislav Sinyak)
Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to run away the World Situation Spot on July 12, five and a half months after turning in higher than 8,200 pounds of offers, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and various cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA and its world companions.
This mission became once the corporate’s twentieth commercial resupply mission to the home predicament for NASA.
Are residing protection of the spacecraft’s departure will commence up at 5:30 a.m. CDT on the NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the company’s web page. Be taught to movement NASA TV through a range of platforms including social media.
Flight controllers on the floor will ship commands for the home predicament’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach Cygnus from the Solidarity module’s Earth-going through port, then maneuver the spacecraft into arrangement for its commence at 6 a.m. NASA astronaut Mike Barratt will visual display unit Cygnus’ systems upon its departure from the home predicament.
Following unberthing, the Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment-2 (KREPE-2), stowed inside of Cygnus, will take measurements to point out a thermal protection machine for the spacecraft and its contents for the duration of re-entry in Earth’s environment.
Cygnus – stuffed with trash packed by the predicament crew – will seemingly be commanded to deorbit July 13, constructing a adversarial re-entry through which the spacecraft will safely burn up in Earth’s environment.
The Northrop Grumman spacecraft arrived at the home predicament Feb. 1, following a commence on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Situation Open Advanced 40 at Cape Canaveral Situation Force Spot.
The HOSC (Huntsville Operations Enhance Center) at NASA’s Marshall Situation Flight Center offers engineering and mission operations toughen for the home predicament, the Commercial Crew Program, and Artemis missions, to boot to science and skills demonstration missions. The Payload Operations Integration Center within the HOSC operates, plans, and coordinates the science experiments onboard the home predicament twelve months a 300 and sixty five days, 24 hours a day.
Glean breaking news, photos, and facets from the home predicament on the predicament weblog.
On July 15, NASA’s set is turning 65. The iconic image, known affectionately as “the meatball,” became once developed at NASA’s Lewis Examine Center (now called NASA Glenn). Employee James Modarelli, who started his profession at the heart as an artist and technical illustrator, became once its chief clothier.
The crimson, white, and blue produce, which contains aspects representing NASA’s home and aeronautics missions, grew to change into the reliable set of america’ new home company in 1959. A simplified version of NASA’s formal seal, the emblem has launched on rockets, flown to the Moon and past, and even adorns the World Situation Spot.
Alongside with its significance as a timeless image of exploration and discovery, the logo is moreover one among the sector’s most identified set symbols. It received its nickname in 1975 to distinguish it from NASA’s “worm” logotype. The “meatball” and these assorted NASA designs like made waves in popular culture.
“NASA’s set aspects are wildly original,” talked about Aimee Crane, merchandising and branding clearance manager for the company. “Every 300 and sixty five days, the company receives requests to merchandise higher than 10,000 NASA-inspired items.”
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