The Martian Movie And Our Real Journey To Mars

A Wrinkle in Space-Time: The Eclipse That “Proved” Einstein Right

One hundred years ago a total solar eclipse turned an obscure scientist into a household name. You might have heard of him — his name is Albert Einstein. But how did a solar eclipse propel him to fame?

First, it would be good to know a couple things about general relativity. (Wait, don’t go! We’ll keep this to the basics!)

A decade before he finished general relativity, Einstein published his special theory of relativity, which demonstrates how space and time are interwoven as a single structure he dubbed “space-time.” General relativity extended the foundation of special relativity to include gravity. Einstein realized that gravitational fields can be understood as bends and curves in space-time that affect the motions of objects including stars, planets — and even light.

For everyday situations the centuries-old description of gravity by Isaac Newton does just fine. However, general relativity must be accounted for when we study places with strong gravity, like black holes or neutron stars, or when we need very precise measurements, like pinpointing a position on Earth to within a few feet. That makes it hard to test!

A prediction of general relativity is that light passing by an object feels a slight "tug", causing the light's path to bend slightly. The more mass the object has, the more the light will be deflected. This sets up one of the tests that Einstein suggested — measuring how starlight bends around the Sun, the strongest source of gravity in our neighborhood. Starlight that passes near the edge of the Sun on its way to Earth is deflected, altering by a small amount where those stars appear to be. How much? By about the width of a dime if you saw it at a mile and a quarter away! But how can you observe faint stars near the brilliant Sun? During a total solar eclipse!

That’s where the May 29, 1919, total solar eclipse comes in. Two teams were dispatched to locations in the path of totality — the places on Earth where the Moon will appear to completely cover the face of the Sun during an eclipse. One team went to South America and another to Africa.

On eclipse day, the sky vexed both teams, with rain in Africa and clouds in South America. The teams had only mere minutes of totality during which to take their photographs, or they would lose the opportunity until the next total solar eclipse in 1921! However, the weather cleared at both sites long enough for the teams to take images of the stars during totality.

The teams took two sets of photographs of the same patch of sky – one set during the eclipse and another set a few months before or after, when the Sun was out of the way. By comparing these two sets of photographs, researchers could see if the apparent star positions changed as predicted by Einstein. This is shown with the effect exaggerated in the image above.

A few months after the eclipse, when the teams sorted out their measurements, the results demonstrated that general relativity correctly predicted the positions of the stars. Newspapers across the globe announced that the controversial theory was proven (even though that’s not quite how science works). It was this success that propelled Einstein into the public eye.

The solar eclipse wasn’t the first test of general relativity. For more than two centuries, astronomers had known that Mercury’s orbit was a little off. Its perihelion — the point during its orbit when it is closest to the Sun — was changing faster than Newton’s laws predicted. General relativity easily explains it, though, because Mercury is so close to the Sun that its orbit is affected by the Sun’s dent in space-time, causing the discrepancy.  

In fact, we still test general relativity today under different conditions and in different situations to see whether or not it holds up. So far, it has passed every test we’ve thrown at it.

Curious to know where we need general relativity to understand objects in space? Tune into our Tumblr tomorrow to find out!

You can also read more about how our understanding of the universe has changed during the past 100 years, from Einstein's formulation of gravity through the discovery of dark energy in our Cosmic Times newspaper series.

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Space-Grown Crystals May Lead to More Efficient Drug Development

The International Space Station is a perfect environment for creating protein crystal structures for research.

In microgravity, protein molecules form more orderly, high-quality crystals. Studying these structures helps scientists understand their function and contributes to development of more effective treatments for diseases.

Experiments often need more than one try to generate ideal crystals, though. Researchers may have to return samples to Earth for analysis and then try again on a later mission on the space station.

Scientists are testing new methods of growing crystals that allow crew members to observe imperfections, make real-time adjustments, and try growing them again right away. This dramatically reduces the time and cost of conducting experiments aboard the space station and opens up the orbiting lab to more users. More efficient use of time and resources can produce research results in less time and lead to development of better drugs sooner.

Learn more @ISS_Research!

Packing for a Journey into the Twilight Zone

Submitted for your consideration: A team of researchers from more than 20 institutions, boarding two research vessels, heading into the ocean’s twilight zone.

The twilight zone is a dimly lit region between 650 and 3300 feet below the surface, where we’re unfolding the mystery of how tiny ocean organisms affect our planet’s climate.

These tiny organisms – called phytoplankton – are plant-like and mostly single-celled. They live in water, taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Two boats, more than 100 researchers from more than 20 partner institutions, and a whole fleet of robotic explorers make up the EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) team. We’re learning more about what happens to carbon dioxide after phytoplankton digest it.

The Equipment to Find Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton have predators in the ocean called zooplankton. They absorb the phytoplankton’s carbon, carrying it up the food chain. The EXPORTS mission will focus partly on how that happens in the ocean’s twilight zone, where some zooplankton live.  When phytoplankton die, sometimes their bodies sink through the same area. All of this carries carbon dioxide into the ocean’s depths and out of Earth’s atmosphere.

Counting Life

Studying the diversity of these organisms is important to better understand what’s happening to the phytoplankton as they die. Researchers from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are using a very fine mesh net to sample water at various depths throughout the ocean to count various plankton populations.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island are bringing the tools to sequence the DNA of phytoplankton and zooplankton to help count these organism populations, getting a closer look at what lives below the ocean’s surface.

Science at 500 Feet

Taking measurements at various depths is important, because phytoplankton, like plants, use sunlight to digest carbon dioxide. That means that phytoplankton at different levels in the ocean absorb and digest carbon differently. We’re bringing a Wirewalker, an instrument that glides up and down along a vertical wire to take in water samples all along its 500-foot long tether.

This journey to the twilight zone will take about thirty days, but we’ll be sending back dispatches from the ships. Follow along as we dive into ocean diversity on our Earth Expeditions blog: https://blogs.nasa.gov/earthexpeditions.

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Women in Exploration: From Human Computers to All-Woman Spacewalks

Since the 19th century, women have been making strides in areas like coding, computing, programming and space travel, despite the challenges they have faced. Sally Ride joined NASA in 1983 and five years later she became the first female American astronaut. Ride's accomplishments paved the way for the dozens of other women who became astronauts, and the hundreds of thousands more who pursued careers in science and technology. Just last week, we celebrated our very first #AllWomanSpacewalk with astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.

Here are just a couple of examples of pioneers who brought us to where we are today:

The Conquest of the Sound Barrier

Pearl Young was hired in 1922 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), NASA’s predecessor organization, to work at its Langley site in support in instrumentation, as one of the first women hired by the new agency. Women were also involved with the NACA at the Muroc site in California (now Armstrong Flight Research Center) to support flight research on advanced, high-speed aircraft. These women worked on the X-1 project, which became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. 

Young was the first woman hired as a technical employee and the second female physicist working for the federal government.

The Human Computers of Langley

The NACA hired five women in 1935 to form its first “computer pool”, because they were hardworking, “meticulous” and inexpensive. After the United States entered World War II, the NACA began actively recruiting similar types to meet the workload. These women did all the mathematical calculations – by hand – that desktop and mainframe computers do today.

Computers played a role in major projects ranging from World War II aircraft testing to transonic and supersonic flight research and the early space program. Women working as computers at Langley found that the job offered both challenges and opportunities. With limited options for promotion, computers had to prove that women could successfully do the work and then seek out their own opportunities for advancement.

Revolutionizing X-ray Astronomy

Marjorie Townsend was blazing trails from a very young age. She started college at age 15 and became the first woman to earn an engineering degree from the George Washington University when she graduated in 1951. At NASA, she became the first female spacecraft project manager, overseeing the development and 1970 launch of the UHURU satellite. The first satellite dedicated to x-ray astronomy, UHURU detected, surveyed and mapped celestial X-ray sources and gamma-ray emissions.

Women of Apollo

NASA’s mission to land a human on the Moon for the very first time took hundreds of thousands workers. These are some of the stories of the women who made our recent #Apollo50th anniversary possible:

• Margaret Hamilton led a NASA team of software engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and helped develop the flight software for NASA’s Apollo missions. She also coined the term “software engineering.” Her team’s groundbreaking work was perfect; there were no software glitches or bugs during the crewed Apollo missions. 

• JoAnn Morgan was the only woman working in Mission Control when the Apollo 11 mission launched. She later accomplished many NASA “firsts” for women:  NASA winner of a Sloan Fellowship, division chief, senior executive at the Kennedy Space Center and director of Safety and Mission Assurance at the agency.

• Judy Sullivan, was the first female engineer in the agency’s Spacecraft Operations organization, was the lead engineer for health and safety for Apollo 11, and the only woman helping Neil Armstrong suit up for flight.

Hidden Figures

Author Margot Lee Shetterly’s book – and subsequent movie – Hidden Figures, highlighted African-American women who provided instrumental support to the Apollo program, all behind the scenes.

• An alumna of the Langley computing pool, Mary Jackson was hired as the agency’s first African-American female engineer in 1958. She specialized in boundary layer effects on aerospace vehicles at supersonic speeds. 

• An extraordinarily gifted student, Katherine Johnson skipped several grades and attended high school at age 13 on the campus of a historically black college. Johnson calculated trajectories, launch windows and emergency backup return paths for many flights, including Apollo 11.

• Christine Darden served as a “computress” for eight years until she approached her supervisor to ask why men, with the same educational background as her (a master of science in applied mathematics), were being hired as engineers. Impressed by her skills, her supervisor transferred her to the engineering section, where she was one of few female aerospace engineers at NASA Langley during that time.

Lovelace’s Woman in Space Program

Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb was the among dozens of women recruited in 1960 by Dr. William Randolph "Randy" Lovelace II to undergo the same physical testing regimen used to help select NASA’s first astronauts as part of his privately funded Woman in Space Program.

Ultimately, thirteen women passed the same physical examinations that the Lovelace Foundation had developed for NASA’s astronaut selection process. They were: Jerrie Cobb, Myrtle "K" Cagle, Jan Dietrich, Marion Dietrich, Wally Funk, Jean Hixson, Irene Leverton, Sarah Gorelick, Jane B. Hart, Rhea Hurrle, Jerri Sloan, Gene Nora Stumbough, and Bernice Trimble Steadman. Though they were never officially affiliated with NASA, the media gave these women the unofficial nicknames “Fellow Lady Astronaut Trainees” and the “Mercury Thirteen.”

The First Woman on the Moon

The early space program inspired a generation of scientists and engineers. Now, as we embark on our Artemis program to return humanity to the lunar surface by 2024, we have the opportunity to inspire a whole new generation. The prospect of sending the first woman to the Moon is an opportunity to influence the next age of women explorers and achievers.

This material was adapted from a paper written by Shanessa Jackson (Stellar Solutions, Inc.), Dr. Patricia Knezek (NASA), Mrs. Denise Silimon-Hill (Stellar Solutions), and Ms. Alexandra Cross (Stellar Solutions) and submitted to the 2019 International Astronautical Congress (IAC). For more information about IAC and how you can get involved, click here.

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One Year of Leadership

It’s been one year since Jim Bridenstine was sworn in as our 13th administrator, starting the job on April 23, 2018. Since then, he has led the agency towards taking our nation farther than ever before — from assigning the first astronauts to fly on commercial vehicles to the International Space Station, to witnessing New Horizon’s arrival at the farthest object ever explored, to working to meet the challenge of landing humans on the lunar surface by 2024.

Here is a look at what happened in the last year under the Administrator’s leadership:

1. Assigned the first astronauts to fly on commercial spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Administrator Bridenstine introduced to the world on Aug. 3, 2018 the first U.S. astronauts who will fly on American-made, commercial spacecraft to and from the International Space Station — an endeavor that will return astronaut launches to U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle’s retirement in 2011.

“Today, our country’s dreams of greater achievements in space are within our grasp,” said Administrator Bridenstine. “This accomplished group of American astronauts, flying on new spacecraft developed by our commercial partners Boeing and SpaceX, will launch a new era of human spaceflight.”

2. Announced the first commercial effort to regularly send science payloads to the Moon.

Administrator Bridenstine announced new Moon partnerships with American companies — an important step to achieving long-term scientific study and human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Nine U.S. companies were named as eligible to bid on NASA delivery services to the Moon through Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts on Nov. 29, 2018.  

3. Witnessed the teamwork that led to the latest mission to the Red Planet with Mars InSight’s landing.

On Nov. 26, 2018, the InSight lander successfully touched down on Mars after an almost seven-month, 300-million-mile (485-million-kilometer) journey from Earth. Administrator Bridenstine celebrated with the members of Mars Cube One and Mars InSight team members after the Mars lander successfully landed and began its mission to study the “inner space” of Mars: its crust, mantle and core.

"Today, we successfully landed on Mars for the eighth time in human history,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “InSight will study the interior of Mars, and will teach us valuable science as we prepare to send astronauts to the Moon and later to Mars…The best of NASA is yet to come, and it is coming soon.”

4. Oversaw the arrival of the first American mission to an asteroid designed to return samples and New Horizon’s arrival at Ultima Thule, the farthest object ever explored.

The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx traveled 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) to arrive at the asteroid Bennu on Dec. 3. The first asteroid sample mission is helping scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth. OSIRIS-Rex has already revealed water locked inside the clays that make up the asteroid.

And on the early hours of New Year’s Day, 2019, our New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in Kuiper belt, a region of primordial objects that hold keys to understanding the origins of the solar system.

“In addition to being the first to explore Pluto, today New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft and became the first to directly explore an object that holds remnants from the birth of our solar system,” said Administrator Bridenstine. “This is what leadership in space is all about.”

5. Directed the first major milestone in commercial crew flights with the successful Space X Demo-1 mission.

Demonstration Mission-1 (Demo-1) was an uncrewed flight test designed to demonstrate a new commercial capability developed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The mission began March 2, when the Crew Dragon launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked to the International Space Station for five days.

“Today’s successful re-entry and recovery of the Crew Dragon capsule after its first mission to the International Space Station marked another important milestone in the future of human spaceflight,” said Administrator Bridenstine. “I want to once again congratulate the NASA and SpaceX teams on an incredible week. Our Commercial Crew Program is one step closer to launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil.”

6. Is currently working to meet the challenge of advancing human exploration of the lunar surface to 2024.

Administrator Bridenstine has accomplished a lot since he swore in one year ago — but the best is yet to come. On March 26, Vice President Mike Pence tasked our agency with returning American astronauts to the Moon by 2024 at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council. 

“It is the right time for this challenge, and I assured the Vice President that we, the people of NASA, are up to the challenge,” said Administrator Bridenstine. “There’s a lot of excitement about our plans and also a lot of hard work and challenges ahead, but I know the NASA workforce and our partners are up to it.”

Learn more about what’s still to come this year at NASA:

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5 Out of this World Experiments Awaiting Crew-1 Space Scientists

NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, and Mike Hopkins, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi embark on a historic mission on November 14, 2020 aboard the Crew Dragon. NASA’s Crew-1 mission marks the first certified crew rotation flight to the International Space Station. During their 6-month stay on orbit, these crew members will don their science caps and complete experiments in microgravity.  Check out five out of this world experiments you can expect to see these space scientists working on during Expedition 64.

1. Space Gardening

The Crew-1 astronauts will become space farmers with the responsibility of tending to the rad(ish) garden located in a facility known as the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH). Researchers are investigating radishes in the Plant Habitat-02 experiment as a candidate crop for spaceflight applications to supplement food sources for astronauts. Radishes have the benefits of high nutritional content and quick growth rates, making these veggies an intriguing option for future space farmers on longer missions to the Moon or Mars.

2. Micro Miners

Microbes can seemingly do it all, including digging up the dirt (so to speak).  The BioAsteroid investigation looks at the ability of bacteria to break down rock.  Future space explorers could use this process for extracting elements from planetary surfaces and refining regolith, the type of soil found on the moon, into usable compounds.  To sum it up, these microbial miners rock.

3. Cooler Exploration Spacesuits

The iconic spacesuits used to walk on the moon and perform spacewalks on orbit are getting an upgrade. The next generation spacesuit, the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), will be even cooler than before, both in looks and in terms of ability to regulate astronaut body temperature.  The Spacesuit Evaporation Rejection Flight Experiment (SERFE) experiment is a technology demonstration being performed on station to look at the efficiency of multiple components in the xEMU responsible for thermal regulation, evaporation processes, and preventing corrosion of the spacesuits.

4. Chips in Space

Crew-1 can expect to get a delivery of many types of chips during their mission.  We aren’t referring to the chips you would find in your pantry.  Rather, Tissue Chips in Space is an initiative sponsored by the National Institutes of Health to study 3D organ-like constructs on a small, compact devices in microgravity. Organ on a chip technology allows for the study of disease processes and potential therapeutics in a rapid manner. During Expedition 64, investigations utilizing organ on a chip technology will include studies on muscle loss, lung function, and the blood brain barrier – all on devices the size of a USB flashdrive.

5. The Rhythm of Life

Circadian rhythm, otherwise known as our "internal clock," dictates our sleep-wake cycles and influences cognition. Fruit flies are hitching a ride to the space station as the subjects of the Genes in Space-7 experiment, created by a team of high school students.  These flies, more formally known as the Drosophila melanogaster, are a model organism, meaning that they are common subjects of scientific study. Understanding changes in the genetic material that influences circadian rhythm in microgravity can shed light on processes relevant to an astronaut’s brain function.

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For updates on other platforms, follow @ISS_Research, Space Station Research and Technology News, or our Facebook to keep up with the science happening aboard your orbiting laboratory, and step outside to see the space station passing over your town using Spot the Station.

Wonder what it’s like to fly for NASA Earth science expeditions? Ask our research pilot anything! 

This January, we’re kicking off five new airborne Earth science expeditions aimed at studying our home planet from the land, sea and air. Here’s your chance to hear what it’s like from the cockpit! 

Research pilot Dean “Gucci” Neeley will be taking your questions in an Answer Time session on Friday, January 10 from 12-1pm ET here on NASA’s Tumblr! Find out what it’s like to fly research aircraft that use the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of Earth, improve lives and safeguard our future! Make sure to ask your question now by visiting http://nasa.tumblr.com/ask!

Dean Neeley, retired U.S. Air Force officer and pilot, joined our Armstrong Flight Research Center in 2012 as a research pilot. Neeley flies a diverse array of highly modified airborne science, research and mission support aircraft such as the single-seat Lockheed ER-2 high-altitude science jet. The ER-2 collects information about Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics and oceanic processes. Neeley has also flown the Gulfstream G-II mission support aircraft, which explores environmentally friendly aircraft concepts, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which observes the solar system and beyond at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, and the C-20A (G-III) science platform aircraft, which carries our Jet Propulsion Laboratory's synthetic aperture radar. 

Dean Neeley Fun Facts 

Dean’s call sign Gucci came from flying KC-10 “Gucci Boys” before being hired to fly U-2 aircraft. Some say he spends too much time/money on his hair, clothes, cars. 😂

He played drums in two rock bands in the 80s and 90s; Agent Orange and the Defoliants; The Mod Sky Gods.

He spent his years in the Air Force as a reconnaissance squadron commander, wing chief of safety, stealth fighter squadron director and bomber in multiple worldwide aerial combat campaigns.

Dean holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Aeronautical Science degree.

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Crazyspacesuit: Were you aware of the Overview Effect before experiencing it?

Hi Serena, what made you think, yes, I want to be an astronaut? And what's your favourite aquatic animal?

Hey! I was wondering how everyone on the ISS adjusts to each other’s culture and language. It seems like it might be hard with language barriers and other factors, to live in a confined space with people from another country. Do others try to teach you their language? Does everyone mostly speak English, or do some people speak Russian?