It’s Girl Scout Day! March 12, 2024, Is The 112th Birthday Of Girl Scouts In The United States, And

Do you have any messages or tips for other girls who want to study and work in STEM fields?

Using the Power of Space to Fight Cancer

From cancer research to DNA sequencing, the International Space Space is proving to be an ideal platform for medical research. But new techniques in fighting cancer are not confined to research on the space station. Increasingly, artificial intelligence is helping to "read" large datasets. And for the past 15 years, these big data techniques pioneered by our Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been revolutionizing biomedical research.

Microgravity Research on Space Station

On Earth, scientists have devised several laboratory methods to mimic normal cellular behavior, but none of them work exactly the way the body does. Beginning more than 40 years ago aboard Skylab and continuing today aboard the space station, we and our partners have conducted research in the microgravity of space.  In this environment, in vitro cells arrange themselves into three-dimensional groupings, or aggregates. These aggregates more closely resemble what actually occurs in the human body. Cells in microgravity also tend to clump together more easily, and they experience reduced fluid shear stress -- a type of turbulence that can affect their behavior. The development of 3D structure and enhanced cell differentiation seen in microgravity may help scientists study cell behavior and cancer development in models that behave more like tissues in the human body.

In addition, using the distinctive microgravity environment aboard the station, researchers are making further advancements in cancer therapy. The process of microencapsulation was investigated aboard the space station in an effort to improve the Earth-based technology. Microencapsulation is a technique that creates tiny, liquid-filled, biodegradable micro-balloons that can serve as delivery systems for various compounds, including specific combinations of concentrated anti-tumor drugs. For decades, scientists and clinicians have looked for the best ways to deliver these micro-balloons, or microcapsules, directly to specific treatment sites within a cancer patient, a process that has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.

A team of scientists at Johnson Space Center used the station as a tool to advance an Earth-based microencapsulation system, known as the Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System-II (MEPS-II), as a way to make more effective microcapsules. The team leveraged fluid behavior in microgravity to develop a new technique for making these microcapsules that would be more effective on Earth. In space, microgravity brought together two liquids incapable of mixing on Earth (80 percent water and 20 percent oil) in such a way that spontaneously caused liquid-filled microcapsules to form as spherical, tiny, liquid-filled bubbles surrounded by a thin, semipermeable, outer membrane. After studying these microcapsules on Earth, the team was able to develop a system to make more of the space-like microcapsules on Earth and are now performing activities leading to FDA approval for use in cancer treatment.  

In addition, the ISS National Laboratory managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) has also sponsored cancer-related investigations.  An example of that is an investigation conducted by the commercial company Eli Lilly that seeks to crystallize a human membrane protein involved in several types of cancer together with a compound that could serve as a drug to treat those cancers. 

"So many things change in 3-D, it's mind-blowing -- when you look at the function of the cell, how they present their proteins, how they activate genes, how they interact with other cells," said Jeanne Becker, Ph.D., a cell biologist at Nano3D Biosciences in Houston and principal investigator for a study called Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Evaluation of Ovarian Tumor Cell Growth and Gene Expression, also known as the CBOSS-1-Ovarian study. "The variable that you are most looking at here is gravity, and you can't really take away gravity on Earth. You have to go where gravity is reduced." 

Crunching Big Data Using Space Knowledge

Our Jet Propulsion Laboratory often deals with measurements from a variety of sensors -- say, cameras and mass spectrometers that are on our spacecraft. Both can be used to study a star, planet or similar target object. But it takes special software to recognize that readings from very different instruments relate to one another.

There’s a similar problem in cancer research, where readings from different biomedical tests or instruments require correlation with one another. For that to happen, data have to be standardized, and algorithms must be “taught” to know what they’re looking for.

Because space exploration and cancer research share a similar challenge in that they both must analyze large datasets to find meaning, JPL and the National Cancer Institute renewed their research partnership to continue developing methods in data science that originated in space exploration and are now supporting new cancer discoveries.

JPL’s methods are leading to the development of a single, searchable network of cancer data that researcher can work into techniques for the early diagnosis of cancer or cancer risk. In the time they’ve worked together, the two organizations’ efforts have led to the discovery of six new Food and Drug Administration-approved cancer biomarkers. These agency-approved biomarkers have been used in more than 1 million patient diagnostic tests worldwide.

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6 Reasons NOAA’s GOES-R Satellite Matters

NOAA’s GOES-R weather satellite will soon be launched into space – becoming our nation’s most advanced geostationary satellite to date. So what does that mean for you? Here are six reasons to be excited about GOES-R:

1. GOES-R helps you know what the weather is going to be

Perhaps you turn on the TV or radio, or check your favorite weather website or smartphone weather app to get the latest forecast. No matter the platform of your weather forecast, the data and information for those forecasts come from NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS).

Weather satellites, like the GOES satellites, are the backbone of NWS forecasts. GOES-R will be more advanced than any other weather satellite of its kind and could make the answer to the question “What’s the weather going to be?” more detailed and accurate both in the near term and further out into the future.

2. GOES-R will get better data faster than ever before

Do you live in an inland state, a state with a coastline or a state with a mountain range? Great, that’s all of you! Data from the GOES-R satellite will be a game changer for forecasters in your area.

Here’s why: satellites are fitted with instruments that observe weather and collect measurements. The primary instrument on the new GOES-R satellite will collect three times more data and provide four times better resolution and more than five times faster coverage than current satellites! This means the satellite can scan Earth’s Western Hemisphere every five minutes and as often as every 30 seconds in areas where severe weather forms, as compared to approximately every 30 minutes with the current GOES satellites. Pretty cool, right?

3. GOES-R is a real life-saver

This expedited data means that forecasts will be timelier, with more “real-time” information in them, allowing NWS to make those warnings and alerts that much faster, thereby potentially saving lives.

And a faster forecast is a big deal for our economy. Commercial shipping and aviation are just two examples of industries that rely on up-to-date weather data for critical decisions about how to route ships and safely divert planes around storms.

4. GOES-R helps keep the electricity flowing

We all depend on a power grid for virtually every aspect of modern life. But power grids are vulnerable to bursts of energy from the sun that can affect us on Earth. 

Luckily, GOES-R will be sitting over 22,000 miles above us, and in addition to measuring weather on Earth, it will monitor incoming space weather.

5. GOES-R is truly revolutionary

How different will GOES-R be? Imagine going from your classic black and white TV to a new high definition one. It will enable NOAA to gather data using three times more channels, four times the resolution, five times faster than the current GOES satellites. 

This faster, more accurate data means better observations of developing storms and other severe weather.

6. GOES-R will be a continuing a legacy

GOES-R may be the first of its kind, but it is the heir to a rich tradition of geostationary earth observation. 

In fact, NOAA has continuously operated a GOES satellite for over 40 years. Since 1975, GOES satellites have taken well over 3 million images!

The GOES-R satellite is scheduled to launch Saturday, Nov. 19 at 5:42 p.m. EST aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Liftoff will occur from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Learn more about the mission: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES-R-Mission

Article Credit: NOAA

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Diving into New Magnetic Territory with the MMS Mission

Our Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, or MMS, is on a journey to study a new region of space.  

On May 4, 2017, after three months of precisely coordinated maneuvers, MMS reached its new orbit to begin studying the magnetic environment on the ever-rotating nighttime side of Earth.

The space around Earth is not as empty as it looks. It’s packed with high energy electrons and ions that zoom along magnetic field lines and surf along waves created by electric and magnetic fields.  

MMS studies how these particles move in order to understand a process known as magnetic reconnection, which occurs when magnetic fields explosively collide and re-align.

After launch, MMS started exploring the magnetic environment on the side of Earth closest to the sun. Now, MMS has been boosted into a new orbit that tops out twice as high as before, at over 98,000 miles above Earth’s surface.

The new orbit will allow the spacecraft to study magnetic reconnection on the night side of Earth, where the process is thought to cause the northern and southern lights and energize particles that fill the radiation belts, a doughnut-shaped region of trapped particles surrounding Earth.  

MMS uses four separate but identical spacecraft, which fly in a tight pyramid formation known as a tetrahedron. This allows MMS to map the magnetic environment in three dimensions.

MMS made many discoveries during its first two years in space, and its new orbit will open the door to even more. The information scientists get from MMS will help us better understand our space environment, which helps in planning future missions to explore even further beyond our planet. Learn more about MMS at nasa.gov/mms.

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What You Need to Know About Our Space Launch System (SLS) Rocket’s Green Run Test

The comprehensive test series called Green Run for our Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is underway at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. 

During Green Run, the rocket’s massive, 212-foot-tall core stage — the same flight hardware that will help launch Artemis I to the Moon – will operate together for the first time. 

Here’s what you need to know about this top-to-bottom test series of our megarocket’s huge core:

The Meaning Behind the Name 

Why is it called Green Run? “Green” refers to the new, untested hardware (AKA the core stage), and “run” represents the succession of tests the core stage paces through. One by one, this series will bring together several “firsts” for the rocket stage as the flight hardware undergoes eight different tests. Each test is designed to gradually bring our rocket’s core stage and all its systems to life for the first time. 

So far, engineers have completed three of the series: the modal test, the avionics power-on, and the safety systems checkout. The safety systems are designed to end the test and shutdown systems automatically under undesirable conditions.

You can follow the progress of Green Run with this Green Run checklist infographic. Our team will be updating in real time as each Green Run test is completed.

Setting the Stage

The world’s tallest rocket stage is tested in an equally giant test stand.  We upgraded the B-2 Test Stand used for the Saturn V rocket stages during the Apollo Program and, later, for the Space Shuttle Program. Now, the B-2 Test Stand is customized for testing our SLS core stage. When all four core stage engines fire up, they can generate some serious heat. So, the B-2 Test Stand will use roughly 100,000 gallons of water every 18 seconds to protect the stand and the hardware.

Hot fire in 3, 2, 1…

Speaking of engines firing up, the core stage will really show what it is capable of during the grand finale of Green Run. The goal is for the entire core stage to operate as one for up to 8.5 minutes — and that includes an impressive firing of all four RS-25 engines simultaneously. Just like at launch, more than 733,000 gallons of liquid propellant will flow from the two propellant tanks through the fuel lines to feed the RS-25 engines.  When operating at sea level on the test stand, the cluster of four RS-25 engines will produce just over 1.6 million pounds of thrust – the same amount it will produce during the early phase of launch. During ascent, the core stage will produce a maximum thrust of over 2 million pounds.

Data, data, data

All the Green Run tests, check outs and the 100 terabytes of collected data certify the core stage design and help verify the stage is ready for launch. To put the sheer amount of data collected during Green Run into perspective, just one terabyte is the equivalent of roughly 500 hours of movies. Even the Library of Congress’s collection only amounts to a total of 15 terabytes!

Next stop: Kennedy

The next time our SLS rocket’s core stage fires up will be on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center for the debut of the Artemis program. This inaugural SLS flight will be just the beginning of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars.

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A Day in Our Lives With X-Ray Tech

On July 23, 1999, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built, was launched into space. Since then, Chandra has made numerous amazing discoveries, giving us a view of the universe that is largely hidden from view through telescopes that observe in other types of light.

The technology behind X-ray astronomy has evolved at a rapid pace, producing and contributing to many spinoff applications you encounter in day-to-day life. It has helped make advancements in such wide-ranging fields as security monitoring, medicine and bio-medical research, materials processing, semi-conductor and microchip manufacturing and environmental monitoring.

7:00 am: Your hand has been bothering you ever since you caught that ball at the family reunion last weekend. Your doctor decides it would be a good idea for an X-ray to rule out any broken bones. X-rays are sent through your hand and their shadow is captured on a detector behind it. You’re relieved to hear nothing is broken, though your doctor follows up with an MRI to make sure the tendons and ligaments are OK.

Two major developments influenced by X-ray astronomy include the use of sensitive detectors to provide low dose but high-resolution images, and the linkage with digitizing and image processing systems. Because many diagnostic procedures, such as mammographies and osteoporosis scans, require multiple exposures, it is important that each dosage be as low as possible. Accurate diagnoses also depend on the ability to view the patient from many different angles. Image processing systems linked to detectors capable of recording single X-ray photons, like those developed for X-ray astronomy purposes, provide doctors with the required data manipulation and enhancement capabilities. Smaller hand-held imaging systems can be used in clinics and under field conditions to diagnose sports injuries, to conduct outpatient surgery and in the care of premature and newborn babies.

8:00 am: A technician places your hand in a large cylindrical machine that whirs and groans as the MRI is taken. Unlike X-rays that can look at bones and dense structures, MRIs use magnets and short bursts of radio waves to see everything from organs to muscles.

MRI systems are incredibly important for diagnosing a whole host of potential medical problems and conditions. X-ray technology has helped MRIs. For example, one of the instruments developed for use on Chandra was an X-ray spectrometer that would precisely measure the energy signatures over a key range of X-rays. In order to make these observations, this X-ray spectrometer had to be cooled to extremely low temperatures. Researchers at our Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland developed an innovative magnet that could achieve these very cold temperatures using a fraction of the helium that other similar magnets needed, thus extending the lifetime of the instrument’s use in space. These advancements have helped make MRIs safer and require less maintenance.

11:00 am:  There’s a pharmacy nearby so you head over to pick up allergy medicine on the way home from your doctor’s appointment.

X-ray diffraction is the technique where X-ray light changes its direction by amounts that depend on the X-ray energy, much like a prism separates light into its component colors. Scientists using Chandra take advantage of diffraction to reveal important information about distant cosmic sources using the observatory’s two gratings instruments, the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) and the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS).

X-ray diffraction is also used in biomedical and pharmaceutical fields to investigate complex molecular structures, including basic research with viruses, proteins, vaccines and drugs, as well as for cancer, AIDS and immunology studies. How does this work? In most applications, the subject molecule is crystallized and then irradiated. The resulting diffraction pattern establishes the composition of the material. X-rays are perfect for this work because of their ability to resolve small objects. Advances in detector sensitivity and focused beam optics have allowed for the development of systems where exposure times have been shortened from hours to seconds. Shorter exposures coupled with lower-intensity radiation have allowed researchers to prepare smaller crystals, avoid damage to samples and speed up their data runs.

12:00 pm: Don’t forget lunch. There’s not much time after your errands so you grab a bag of pretzels. Food safety procedures for packaged goods include the use of X-ray scans to make sure there is quality control while on the production line.

Advanced X-ray detectors with image displays inspect the quality of goods being produced or packaged on a production line. With these systems, the goods do not have to be brought to a special screening area and the production line does not have to be disrupted. The systems range from portable, hand-held models to large automated systems. They are used on such products as aircraft and rocket parts and structures, canned and packaged foods, electronics, semiconductors and microchips, thermal insulations and automobile tires.

2:00 pm: At work, you are busy multi-tasking across a number of projects, running webinar and presentation software, as well as applications for your calendar, spreadsheets, word processing, image editing and email (and perhaps some social media on the side). It’s helpful that your computer can so easily handle running many applications at once.

X-ray beam lithography can produce extremely fine lines and has applications for developing computer chips and other semiconductor related devices. Several companies are researching the use of focused X-ray synchrotron beams as the energy source for this process, since these powerful beams produce good pattern definition with relatively short exposure times. The grazing incidence optics — that is, the need to skip X-rays off a smooth mirror surface like a stone across a pond and then focus them elsewhere — developed for Chandra were the highest precision X-ray optics in the world and directly influenced this work.

7:00 pm: Dream vacation with your family. Finally!  You are on your way to the Bahamas to swim with the dolphins. In the line for airport security, carry-on bags in hand, you are hoping you’ve remembered sunscreen. Shoes off! All items placed in the tray. Thanks to X-ray technology, your bags will be inspected quickly and you WILL catch your plane…

The first X-ray baggage inspection system for airports used detectors nearly identical to those flown in the Apollo program to measure fluorescent X-rays from the Moon. Its design took advantage of the sensitivity of the detectors that enabled the size, power requirements and radiation exposure of the system to be reduced to limits practical for public use, while still providing adequate resolution to effectively screen baggage.  The company that developed the technology later developed a system that can simultaneously image, on two separate screens, materials of high atomic weight (e.g. metal hand guns) and materials of low atomic weight (e.g. plastic explosives) that pass through other systems undetected. Variations of these machines are used to screen visitors to public buildings around the world.

Check out Chandra’s 20th anniversary page to see how they are celebrating.

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The Science Behind the Summer Solstice

Today – Thursday, June 21 – is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. But what causes this change in seasons? And what exactly is a solstice? It’s all about Earth’s tilt!

Many people believe that Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer and that is why it is hotter. And, likewise, they think Earth is farthest from the Sun in the winter.

Although this idea makes sense, it is incorrect. There is a different reason for Earth's seasons.

Earth's axis is an imaginary pole going right through the center of Earth from "top" to "bottom." Earth spins around this pole, making one complete turn each day. That is why we have day and night, and why every part of Earth's surface gets some of each.

Earth has seasons because its axis doesn't stand up straight. Today, the north pole is tipped toward the Sun, and the south pole is tipped away from the Sun. The northern summer solstice is an instant in time when the north pole of the Earth points more directly toward the Sun than at any other time of the year. It marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere.

To mark the beginning of summer, here are four ways to enjoy the many wonders of space throughout the season: 

1. Spot the International Space Station

As the third brightest object in the sky, the International Space Station is easy to see if you know when to look up. Sign up to get alerts when the station is overhead: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/. Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster!

2.  Treat your ears to space-related podcasts

From our “Gravity Assist” podcast that takes you on a journey through the solar system (including the Sun!) to our “NASA in Silicon Valley” podcast that provides an in-depth look at people who push the boundaries of innovation, we have podcast offerings that will suit everyone’s taste. For a full list of our podcasts, visit https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts.

3. Explore space by downloading NASA apps

Our apps for smartphones, tablets and digital media players showcase a huge collection of space-related content, including images, videos on-demand, NASA Television, mission information, feature stories, satellite tracking and much more. For a full list of our apps available for download, visit https://www.nasa.gov/connect/apps.html

4. Watch launches to space

This summer, we have multiple opportunities for you to take in the sights of spacecraft launches that will deliver supplies and equipment to astronauts living aboard the International Space Station, explore our solar system and much more. Be sure to mark your calendar for upcoming launches and landings!

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2017 Was One of Our Planet’s Hottest Years on Record

We just finished the second hottest year on Earth since global temperature estimates first became feasible in 1880. Although 2016 still holds the record for the warmest year, 2017 came in a close second, with average temperatures 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the mean.

2017’s temperature record is especially noteworthy, because we didn’t have an El Niño this year. Often, the two go hand-in-hand.

El Niño is a climate phenomenon that causes warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean waters, which affect wind and weather patterns around the world, usually resulting in warmer temperatures globally. 2017 was the warmest year on record without an El Niño.

We collect the temperature data from 6,300 weather stations and ship- and buoy-based observations around the world, and then analyze it on a monthly and yearly basis. Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) do a similar analysis; we’ve been working together on temperature analyses for more than 30 years. Their analysis of this year’s temperature data tracks closely with ours.

The 2017 temperature record is an average from around the globe, so different places on Earth experienced different amounts of warming. NOAA found that the United States, for instance, had its third hottest year on record, and many places still experienced cold winter weather.

Other parts of the world experienced abnormally high temperatures throughout the year. Earth’s Arctic regions are warming at roughly twice the rate of the rest of the planet, which brings consequences like melting polar ice and rising sea levels.

Increasing global temperatures are the result of human activity, specifically the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. The gases trap heat inside the atmosphere, raising temperatures around the globe.  

We combine data from our fleet of spacecraft with measurements taken on the ground and in the air to continue to understand how our climate is changing. We share this important data with partners and institutions across the U.S. and around the world to prepare and protect our home planet.

Earth’s long-term warming trend can be seen in this visualization of NASA’s global temperature record, which shows how the planet’s temperatures are changing over time, compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980.

Learn more about the 2017 Global Temperature Report HERE. 

Discover the ways that we are constantly monitoring our home planet HERE. 

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Does Webb have resolution to look more closely at nearby objects, like Mars or even Earth? Or just far things?

Solar System: Things to Know

Help us find the most interesting spots to image on Jupiter, learn how Hubble is helping the Voyager craft find their way and more!

1. Calling All Citizen Scientists!

Join the Mission Juno virtual imaging team by helping us to determine the best locations in Jupiter's atmosphere that JunoCam will capture. Voting is open January 19-23, 2017. Visit www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam for more information about JunoCam voting.

2. Leading the Way

Our Hubble Space Telescope is providing a road map for the two Voyager spacecraft as they hurtle through unexplored territory on their trip beyond our solar system. Along the way, the Voyager craft are measuring the interstellar medium, the mysterious environment between stars. Hubble is measuring the material along the probes' future trajectories and even after the Voyagers run out of electrical power and are unable to send back new data, which may happen in about a decade, astronomers can use Hubble observations to characterize the environment of through which these silent ambassadors will glide.

3. Explorers Wanted

Mars needs YOU! In the future, Mars will need all kinds of explorers, farmers, surveyors, teachers . . . but most of all YOU! Join us on the Journey to Mars as we explore with robots and send humans there one day. Download a Mars poster that speaks to you. Be an explorer!

4. Tracking Every Sol

Each sol, or Martian day, the Mars Curiosity Team tracks the rover’s progress. And you can track them too at: http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/mars-rover-curiosity-mission-updates/. 

5. Happy 425th birthday,  Pierre Gassendi

January 22 is the 425th birthday of Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, priest, scientist, astronomer, mathematician and an active observational scientist. He was the first to publish data on the 1631 transit of Mercury. The Lunar Crater Gassendi is named for him.

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

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