May The 4th Be With You

What Can We Learn from the Universe’s Baby Picture?

If you look at your baby photos, you might see hints of the person you are today — a certain look in the eyes, maybe the hint of your future nose or ears. In the same way, scientists examine the universe’s “baby picture” for clues about how it grew into the cosmos we know now. This baby photo is the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a faint glow that permeates the universe in all directions.

In late September, NASA plans to launch a balloon-based astronomical observatory from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, to study the universe’s baby picture. Meet PIPER! The Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer will fly at the edge of our atmosphere to look for subtle patterns in the CMB.

The CMB is cold. Really, really cold. The average temperature is around minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit. It formed 380,000 years after the big bang, which scientists think happened about 13.8 billion years ago. When it was first discovered, the CMB temperature looked very uniform, but researchers later found there are slight variations like hot and cold spots. The CMB is the oldest light in the universe that we can see. Anything before the CMB is foggy — literally.

Credit: Rob van Hal

Before the CMB, the universe was a fog of hot, dense plasma. (By hot, we’re talking about 500 million degrees F.) That’s so hot that atoms couldn’t exist yet – there was just a soup of electrons and protons. Electrons are great at deflecting light. So, any light that existed in the first few hundred thousand years after the big bang couldn’t travel very far before bouncing off electrons, similar to the way a car’s headlights get diffused in fog.  

After the big bang, the universe started expanding rapidly in all directions. This expansion is still happening today. As the universe continued to expand, it cooled. By the time the universe reached its 380,000th birthday, it had cooled enough that electrons and protons could combine into hydrogen atoms for the first time. (Scientists call this era recombination.) Hydrogen atoms don’t deflect light nearly as well as loose electrons and the fog lifted. Light could now travel long distances across the universe.

The light we see in the CMB comes from the recombination era. As it traveled across the universe, through the formation of stars and galaxies, it lost energy. Now we observe it in the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is less energetic than visible light and therefore invisible to our eyes. The first baby photo of the CMB – really, a map of the sky in microwaves – came from our Cosmic Background Explorer, which operated from 1989 to 1993.

Why are we so interested in the universe’s baby picture? Well, it’s helped us learn a lot about the structure of the universe around us today. For example, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe produced a detailed map of the CMB and helped us learn that the universe is 68 percent dark energy, 27 percent dark matter and just 5 percent normal matter — the stuff that you and stars are made of.

Right after the big bang, we’re pretty sure the universe was tiny. Really tiny. Everything we see today would have been stuffed into something smaller than a proton. If the universe started out that small, then it would have followed the rules of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics allows all sorts of strange things to happen. Matter and energy can be “borrowed” from the future then crash back into nothingness. And then cosmic inflation happened and the universe suddenly expanded by a trillion trillion times.

All this chaos creates a sea of gravitational waves. (These are called “primordial” gravitational waves and come from a different source than the gravitational waves you may have heard about from merging neutron stars and black holes.) The signal of the primordial gravitational waves is a bit like white noise, where the signal from merging dead stars is like a whistle you can pick up over the noise.

These gravitational waves filled the baby universe and created distinct patterns, called B-mode polarization, in the CMB light. These patterns have handedness, which means even though they’re mirror images of each other, they’re not symmetrical — like trying to wear a left-hand glove on your right hand. They’re distinct from another kind of polarization called E-mode, which is symmetrical and echoes the distribution of matter in the universe.

That’s where PIPER comes in. PIPER’s two telescopes sit in a hot-tub-sized container of liquid helium, which runs about minus 452 degrees F. It’ll look at 85 percent of the sky and is extremely sensitive, so it will help us learn even more about the early days of the universe. By telling us more about polarization and those primordial gravitational waves, PIPER will help us understand how the early universe grew from that first baby picture.

PIPER’s first launch window in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, is in late September. When it’s getting ready to launch, you’ll be able to watch the balloon being filled on the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility website. Follow NASA Blueshift on Twitter or Facebook for updates about PIPER and when the livestream will be available.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Learn all about the end of the Rosetta Mission and more about the weather on Mars, the Moon’s colorful palette.

1. Rosetta’s Last Dance

The Rosetta mission was one of firsts: the first to orbit a comet and the first to dispatch a lander to a comet's surface. Rosetta transformed our understanding of these ancient wanderers, and this week, mission controllers will command the spacecraft to execute a series of maneuvers to bring it out of orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Watch live on Sept. 30 from 6:15-8 a.m. EDT, the Rosetta mission's 12-year odyssey in space reaches its conclusion. Rosetta will descend to make a planned impact on the comet’s surface with its instruments recording science data during descent.

+Watch live as Rosetta crash lands on NASA TV, recording data along the way

+More on the mission’s final descent

+Mission highlights

2.  Hubble Spots Possible Water Plumes Erupting on Jupiter's Moon Europa

On Monday, Sept. 26, our scientists announced what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, based on data from the Hubble Space Telescope. This finding bolsters other Hubble observations suggesting the icy moon erupts with high altitude water vapor plumes.

+Learn the latest on Europa

3. Not So Impossible After All

Scientists have found an "impossible" ice cloud on Saturn's moon Titan. The puzzling appearance of an ice cloud prompted our researchers to suggest that a different process than previously thought could be forming clouds on Titan. The process may be similar to one seen over Earth's poles. Today, the Cassini spacecraft will perform a targeted Titan flyby, skimming just 1,079 miles (1,736 kilometers) above its hazy surface. Several of Cassini's instruments will be watching for clouds and other phenomena in the atmosphere, as well as taking measurements of the surface.

+Learn more about Titan’s clouds

4. Lunar Intrigue

Earth's moon is a colorless world of grays and whites, right? Not really. As seen in these images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, some landscapes on the moon reveal a whole range of color. One such place is the mountainous complex of ancient lava flows known as the Lassell Massif, one of the moon's so-called "red spots."

+Take a look

5. Weather Report: Mars

A camera aboard our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter monitors global weather patterns daily. The most recent report includes the remains of a large dust storm in the Noachis region, and smaller tempests spotted along the edge of the south polar ice cap and water-ice clouds over the volcano Arsia Mons.

+ Learn more and see Mars weather videos

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

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Science Coming Soon to a Space Station Near You

Dozens of science experiments will soon make their red carpet debuts on the International Space Station. They will arrive courtesy of a Dragon cargo spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The starring players include investigations into 3D printing organ tissue, breaking up rocks and building bones.

Meet some of the experiments blasting off that could lead to the development of new technologies as well as improve life on Earth.

Grab yourself an (organ) tissue

Scientists and medical professionals have long dreamed of the day 3D printers can be used to create useable human organs. But pesky gravity seems to always get in the way.

Enter microgravity. The new BioFabrication Facility (BFF) will provide a platform to attempt the creation of this organ tissue on the space station, a potential first step towards creating entire human organs in space.

Put down your pickaxe and pick up some microbes

Extracting minerals from rocks doesn’t always require brute force. Microbes can be deployed for the same purpose in a process called bio-mining. While common on Earth, the method still needs to be explored in space to see if it can eventually help explorers on the Moon and Mars. The BioRock investigation will examine the interactions between microbes and rocks and see if microgravity could limit the use of bio-mining by restricting bacterial growth.

Keep rolling along 

Goodyear Tire will investigate if microgravity can help improve the silica design process, silica rubber formation and tire manufacturing. This investigation could lead to improvements like better tire performance and increased fuel efficiency, putting a bit of cash back in your pocket.

When space gets on our nerves

Meet microglia: a type of immune defense cell found in the central nervous system. Better understanding nerve cells and their behavior in microgravity is crucial to protecting astronaut health. 

The Space Tango-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells experiment will convert induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patients with Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis into different types of brain cells. Researchers will examine two things:

How microglial cells grow and move

Changes in gene expression in microgravity

Studying this process in microgravity could reveal mechanisms not previously understood and could lead to improved prevention and treatments for the diseases.

Space moss!

Moss, the tiny plants you see covering rocks and trees in the woods, change how they behave once the gravity in their environment changes. Space Moss compares the mosses grown aboard the space station with your typical run-of-the-mill Earth-bound moss.

This investigation will let researchers see how moss behavior in space could allow it to serve as a source of food and oxygen on future Moon or Mars bases.

A smooth connection 

Docking with the space station requires physical points for connections, and International Docking Adapters (IDAs) are providing a more sophisticated way of doing so.

IDA 3 will be attached to the Harmony mode, home to two existing IDAs. This adapter can accommodate commercial crew vehicle dockings, such as the first spacecraft to launch from U.S. soil since the space shuttle.

Building a better bone 

The Cell Science-02 investigation will improve our understanding of tissue regeneration and allow us to develop better countermeasures to fight loss of bone density by astronauts.

By examining the effects of microgravity on healing agents, this investigation may be able to assist people on Earth being treated for serious wounds or osteoporosis.

Want to learn about more investigations heading to the space station (or even ones currently under way)? Make sure to follow @ISS_Research on Twitter and Space Station Research and Technology News on Facebook. 

If you want to see the International Space Station with your own eyes, check out Spot the Station to see it pass over your town.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

After five years traveling through space to its destination, our Juno spacecraft will arrive in orbit around Jupiter today, July 4, 2016. This video shows a peek of what the spacecraft saw as it closed in on its destination before instruments were turned off. Watch our noon EDT Pre-Orbit Insertion Briefing on NASA Television for more: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv or http://youtube.com/nasajpl/live. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

NASA Spotlight: Astronaut Andrew Feustel

Andrew J. Feustel was selected by NASA in 2000. The Lake Orion, Michigan native has a Ph.D. in the Geological Sciences, specializing in Seismology, and is a veteran of three spaceflights. In 2009, Dr. Feustel served on space shuttle mission STS-125. That mission was the fifth and final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope that improved the observatory’s capabilities through 2014! Feustel most recently served as Commander on the International Space Station from March 21 through October 4, 2018. In his free time, Dr. Feustel enjoys auto restoration, guitar, water and snow skiing and is a fan of automotive and motorcycle racing.  

He took some time from his job as a NASA astronaut to answer a few questions about his life and career! Enjoy:

While attending Oakland Community College, you worked as an auto mechanic. How does that job and the skills you learned relate to your job now as an astronaut?

I’ve often told people that I believe having this skillset is almost as important as my training in college and university. I relied on those skills almost every day in space and even on the ground while preparing for missions. That skillset has been really helpful in understanding how to maintain and repair equipment for spaceflight. In general, having those general skills of knowing how things fit together, what the structure is, and how things work, even without knowing anything about the particular item, is very helpful in life.

Has there ever been a time as a NASA Astronaut where you had to overcome self-doubt and if so, how did you?

Yes, probably the most impactful time I had to overcome self-doubt was on my very first mission as a rookie doing a spacewalk for the first time and having to make a repair on the Hubble Space Telescope. Since it was my first spacewalk, I didn’t know if I could do it and didn’t know how I would do. However, I had trained for that mission for three years and the training took over when I started the spacewalk. At that point, I didn’t focus on my self-doubt, I focused on my training and was able to carry out the tasks.

What are you most excited about for the upcoming Artemis Moon missions?

I am most excited about the possibility of humans establishing the ability to live off of our planet. To have the capability to exist on another surface. That, to me, is a start. Humans need that capability for us to live on the Moon then to go to Mars.

What did living in space teach you about community and teamwork?

Not just living in space, but working at NASA and training for space missions taught me a lot about community and teamwork. Living in space allows you to use the skills you learn about teamwork while training. While living in space you must rely on each other for everything. It’s important to recognize the value of working as a team. All of the astronauts have a very different mix of skills and that’s a great thing about the astronaut corps. Being successful and staying alive in space relies on community and teamwork.

What kind of impact did living and working in space have on how you view the Earth?

I am more aware of the fragility of our planet and species which is why humans should extend past the Earth. We are fragile as a planet and the Earth is vulnerable to the impacts of us living here. We cannot have zero impact on the planet, we will always have some impact, but the goal is to lessen the damage that we do to Earth to allow us to live here indefinitely if possible.

What or who inspired you to apply to be an astronaut?

I was inspired by reading the obituary of my great-great uncle. He was very successful in the utilities and railroad industry in the Midwest. Reading about his successes made me believe that I could do anything. I was also interested in space travel from a young age. I believed that I would be involved in the space industry. The motivation of understanding what family members had done before me really encouraged me to reach for my dreams and apply.

What book, movie, or show about space and/or astronauts is the most accurate? The least accurate? You wish was accurate?

I’m less concerned about the accuracy of space and space exploration portrayed in movies, but more interested with the creative thought behind them and I am fascinated with ideas and imagination of the people making these movies. Things portrayed as science fiction in the past become science fact in the future.

What's the most common misconception about astronauts / working at NASA?

The most common misconception about astronauts is that we go on spaceflights often. Over 95% of our job is spent working on the ground. People should come to this job because it’s important to space and space exploration. The job entails so much more than going into space yourself, but the good news is it’s all awesome. I have never been bored at my job. There are so many exciting parts of this work that contribute to NASA missions even if it doesn’t always mean being in space.

Can you share your favorite photo or video that you took in space?

My favorite photo is this one of Michigan and Canada. It captures my life – where I lived and everyone that I know and my family and friends – that’s where I consider home. It’s such a beautiful image.

That’s a wrap! Thank you Dr. Feustel for your time! 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Will Perseverance be near any other Rovers?

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Astronaut Shane Kimbrough!

After years of training NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough is launching to the International Space Station on Wednesday, so there’s not much left to say, right?  Wrong!  Here are five secrets about his past that the Texas native and retired Army officer hasn’t told us, until now.

1. Shane went to elementary school in Germany

But his family returned to the U.S. where he attended middle and high school.

2. Life is Smyrna, Georgia 

Shane attended middle and high school in the Atlanta suburb of Smyrna with movie star Julia Roberts!

3. Shane had an accomplished military career

A retired Army colonel, Shane graduated from West Point, after which he became an Army aviator. He later became a jumpmaster and has had a long and distinguished military career.

Read his bio.

4. He loves sports. All sports!

He LOVES playing, coaching and watching sports. Watching college football is one of the things he’ll miss while he’s on the station.

5. Leading the future

His passion for teaching is one that he finds “most rewarding.”

Follow Shane on the station at @astro_kimbrough.

Learn more about missions to the International Space Station HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Roman’s Family Portrait of Millions of Galaxies

About 15 years ago, our Hubble Space Telescope captured this ultra-deep field image of space, revealing thousands of galaxies tucked away in a seemingly empty spot in the sky.

Now, imagine this view of the cosmos – and all the mysteries in it – at a scale 300 times larger than Hubble's.

Our upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Telescope could capture just that.

Roman recently released this gorgeous simulated image that gives us a preview of what the telescope could see. Each tiny speck represents a galaxy filled with billions of stars. And it’s more than just a pretty picture – scientists could learn a lot from an observation like this!

Since Roman can see much more of the sky at a time, it could create an ultra-deep field image that’s far larger than Hubble’s. So instead of revealing thousands of galaxies, Roman would see millions!

Roman’s ability to look far out into space with such an expansive view would help us better understand what the universe was like when it was young. For example, scientists could study a lot of cosmic transitions, like how galaxies switch from star-making factories to a quieter stage when star formation is complete and how the universe went from being mainly opaque to the brilliant starscape we see today.

And these are just a few of the mysteries Roman could help us solve!

Set to launch in the mid-2020s, our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, is designed to unravel the secrets of dark energy and dark matter, search for and image exoplanets, and explore many topics in infrared astrophysics. You can learn about some of the other science Roman will do here.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

What’s Up for May 2016?

What's Up for May? Two huge solar system highlights: Mercury transits the sun and Mars is closer to Earth than it has been in 11 years.

On May 9, wake up early on the west coast or step out for coffee on the east coast to see our smallest planet cross the face of the sun. The transit will also be visible from most of South America, western Africa and western Europe.

A transit occurs when one astronomical body appears to move across the face of another as seen from Earth or from a spacecraft. But be safe! You'll need to view the sun and Mercury through a solar filter when looking through a telescope or when projecting the image of the solar disk onto a safe surface. Look a little south of the sun's Equator. It will take about 7 1/2 hours for the tiny planet's disk to cross the sun completely. Since Mercury is so tiny it will appear as a very small round speck, whether it's seen through a telescope or projected through a solar filter. The next Mercury transit will be Nov. 11, 2019.

Two other May highlights involve Mars. On May 22 Mars opposition occurs. That's when Mars, Earth and the sun all line up, with Earth directly in the middle.

Eight days later on May 30, Mars and Earth are nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun. Mars is over half a million miles closer to Earth at closest approach than at opposition. But you won't see much change in the diameter and brightness between these two dates. As Mars comes closer to Earth in its orbit, it appears larger and larger and brighter and brighter. 

During this time Mars rises after the sun sets. The best time to see Mars at its brightest is when it is highest in the sky, around midnight in May and a little earlier in June. 

Through a telescope you can make out some of the dark features on the planet, some of the lighter features and sometimes polar ice and dust storm-obscured areas showing very little detail.

After close approach, Earth sweeps past Mars quickly. So the planet appears large and bright for only a couple weeks. 

But don't worry if you miss 2016's close approach. 2018's will be even better, as Mars' close approach will be, well, even closer.

You can find out about our #JourneytoMars missions at mars.nasa.gov, and you can learn about all of our missions at http://www.nasa.gov.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Make Sure You Observe the Moon on October 20

On Saturday, October 20, NASA will host the ninth annual International Observe the Moon Night. One day each year, everyone on Earth is invited to observe and learn about the Moon together, and to celebrate the cultural and personal connections we all have with our nearest celestial neighbor.

There are a number of ways to celebrate. You can attend an event, host your own, or just look up! Here are 10 of our favorite ways to observe the Moon:

1. Look up

Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright

The simplest way to observe the Moon is simply to look up. The Moon is the brightest object in our night sky, the second brightest in our daytime sky and can be seen from all around the world — from the remote and dark Atacama Desert in Chile to the brightly lit streets of Tokyo. On October 20, the near side of the Moon, or the side facing Earth, will be about 80 percent illuminated, rising in the early evening.

See the Moon phase on October 20 or any other day of the year!

2. Peer through a telescope or binoculars

The Moon and Venus are great targets for binoculars. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Dunford

With some magnification help, you will be able to focus in on specific features on the Moon, like the Sea of Tranquility or the bright Copernicus Crater. Download our Moon maps for some guided observing on Saturday.

3. Photograph the Moon

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/ASU

Our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has taken more than 20 million images of the Moon, mapping it in stunning detail. You can see featured, captioned images on LRO’s camera website, like the one of Montes Carpatus seen here. And, of course, you can take your own photos from Earth. Check out our tips on photographing the Moon!

4. Take a virtual field trip

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Plan a lunar hike with Moontrek. Moontrek is an interactive Moon map made using NASA data from our lunar spacecraft. Fly anywhere you’d like on the Moon, calculate the distance or the elevation of a mountain to plan your lunar hike, or layer attributes of the lunar surface and temperature. If you have a virtual reality headset, you can experience Moontrek in 3D.

5. Touch the topography

Image credit: NASA GSFC/Jacob Richardson

Observe the Moon through touch! If you have access to a 3D printer, you can peruse our library of 3D models and lunar landscapes. This model of the Apollo 11 landing site created by NASA scientist Jacob Richardson, is derived from LRO’s topographic data. Near the center, you can actually feel a tiny dot where astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the Lunar Descent Module.

6. Make Moon art

Image credit: LPI/Andy Shaner

Enjoy artwork of the Moon and create your own! For messy fun, lunar crater paintings demonstrate how the lunar surface changes due to consistent meteorite impacts.

7. Relax on your couch

Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright

There are many movies that feature our nearest neighbor, from A Voyage to the Moon by George Melies, to Apollo 13, to the newly released First Man. You can also spend your evening with our lunar playlist on YouTube or this video gallery, learning about the Moon’s role in eclipses, looking at the Moon phases from the far side, and seeing the latest science portrayed in super high resolution. You’ll impress all of your friends with your knowledge of supermoons.

8. Listen to the Moon

Video credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright

Make a playlist of Moon songs. For inspiration, check out this list of lunar tunes. We also recommend LRO’s official music video, The Moon and More, featuring Javier Colon, season 1 winner of NBC’s “The Voice.” Or you can just watch this video featuring “Clair de Lune,” by French composer Claude Debussy, over and over.

9. See the Moon through the eyes of a spacecraft

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/MIT

Visible light is just one tool that we use to explore our universe. Our spacecraft contain many different types of instruments to analyze the Moon’s composition and environment. Review the Moon’s gravity field with data from the GRAIL spacecraft or decipher the maze of this slope map from the laser altimeter onboard LRO. This collection from LRO features images of the Moon’s temperature and topography. You can learn more about our different missions to explore the Moon here.

10. Continue your observations throughout the year

Image credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright

An important part of observing the Moon is to see how it changes over time. International Observe the Moon Night is the perfect time to start a Moon journal. See how the shape of the Moon changes over the course of a month, and keep track of where and what time it rises and sets. Observe the Moon all year long with these tools and techniques!

However you choose to celebrate International Observe the Moon Night, we want to hear about it! Register your participation and share your experiences on social media with #ObserveTheMoon or on our Facebook page. Happy observing!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.