Science

NASA JPL prepares for year-round launches and mission milestones

NASA JPL shows, clockwise from bottom right, the launches of CADRE (whose engineering model is shown here), Lunar Trailblazer, NISAR (shown in artist’s concept), Sentinel-6B (artist’s concept), and SPHEREx. We are making preparations. Europa Clipper’s Mars Gravity Assist (artist’s concept). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/BAE Systems/Lockheed Martin Space

As 2024 recedes into the distance, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is already entering a busy 2025. Early in the new year, the Eaton Fire approached JPL, destroying the homes of more than 200 employees, but work continues at a rapid pace to sustain the mission. Execute your strategy and keep future missions on track.

Several missions managed by NASA JPL are preparing for launch this year. Most products are developed over many years and, of course, what is launched is only part of the picture. Other milestones are also planned at the federal laboratory managed by Caltech for NASA.

Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come this year.

mysterious universe

Shaped like a trumpet bell and about the size of a subcompact car, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory aims for the stars. The mission, officially known as the Spectrophotometer for the History of the Universe, Age of Reionization, and Exploration of Ice, will create four 3D maps of the entire sky to improve humanity’s understanding of the universe. . It’s about how the universe expanded after the Big Bang, and where the ingredients for life are found in things like ice grains. Target launch date: Launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, by February 27th.

The secret of the moon’s ice

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer aims to help solve the enduring mystery of where the moon’s water is located. Scientists have witnessed signs suggesting the presence of lunar ice even in places where temperatures are soaring on the moon’s surface, leaving permanently shadowed craters, meaning There is good reason to believe that lunar ice will be found as surface ice in areas that are not exposed to direct sunlight.

The small satellite, managed by NASA JPL and led by the California Institute of Technology, will map the moon’s surface water in unprecedented detail, revealing how much water there is, where it exists, what shape it takes, and how it changes over time. Determining will help provide the answer. The small satellite is scheduled for launch in late February to coincide with the delivery of Intuitive Machines-2 to the moon through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.

Earth’s changing surface

NISAR, a collaboration between the United States and India, is a significant addition to the constellation of satellites studying our changing Earth. Standing for NASA-Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar, the mission’s name is a nesting doll of an acronym, and the spacecraft is a nesting doll of capabilities. It is the first spacecraft to carry both L-band and S-band radar. Once launched a few months later, it will examine changes in the Earth’s surface related to volcanoes, earthquakes, ice sheet movement, deforestation, and more in unprecedented detail.

sea ​​level

Sentinel 6B is targeted for launch in November and will provide global sea level measurements, some of the most accurate data of its kind to date, that will help climate models and hurricane tracking. , and even improve our understanding of phenomena such as El Niño. A collaboration between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), the spacecraft will take over the baton from its twin Sentinel 6 Michael Freilich, which launched in 2020. Together, both satellites will extend a nearly 30-year spaceflight record by another 10 years. World sea level height.

lunar rover trio

The CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) project as a technology demonstration marks another step in NASA’s progress toward developing robots that can operate autonomously to increase the efficiency of future missions. .

JPL’s project team will soon package and ship three of CADRE’s suitcase-sized spacecraft to Texas, where they will be prepared for a trip to the moon aboard a commercial lander from NASA’s future CLPS delivery. The spacecraft is designed to work together as a team without direct input from mission controllers on Earth. It aims to demonstrate how multi-robot missions can enable new science and support astronauts by taking measurements from multiple locations simultaneously.

quantum technology

SEAQUE (Space Entanglement and Annealing Quantum Experiment), which arrived at the International Space Station in November, is testing two technologies that, if successful, could enable communication between two quantum systems using entangled photons. Research in the experiment, which begins in 2025, could help develop building blocks for future global quantum networks that allow devices such as quantum computers to safely transfer data over long distances.

Reaching Jupiter using gravity

Europa Clipper, launched in October this year, is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2030 to investigate whether conditions are suitable for life in the ocean beneath the icy shell of the gas giant’s moon Europa. is. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) before reaching its destination. Because there are limits to how much fuel a spacecraft can carry, mission planners hoped to fly Europa Clipper close to Mars on March 1, hoping to use Mars’ gravity to speed up the journey. There is.

Source: NASA JPL Prepping for Full-Year Launch, Mission Milestone (January 23, 2025) from https://phys.org/news/2025-01-nasa-jpl-prepping-full-year.html Retrieved January 23, 2025

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