Meet Esther, our System Engineer currently working on the Proba-3 mission.
Proba-3 is scheduled to liftoff on Wednesday, 4 December, at 11:38 CET from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India, Proba-3 will use two satellites to create the perfect conditions for observing the Sun’s corona.
One satellite features a telescope, kept in the centre of the shadow cast by the other satellite around 150 m away, thanks to an occulter disc. Maintaining the correct position in the shadow requires a precise formation flying capability, down to a single millimetre of precision.
JoAnn Morgan, former Apollo 11 engineer, expresses her excitement for Artemis I as launch day gets closer for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. Morgan was the only woman working in the control room during launch of Apollo 11 to the Moon in 1969. She notes that more women now are leaders and contributors to NASA’s mission.
#Artemis I will launch no earlier than Aug. 29, 2022, at 8:33 a.m. EDT (12:33 UTC) from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B.
This concluding part of ESA’s ‘Analog-1’ project took place as part of a larger multi-agency, multi-rover campaign, organised by the @DLR. The Autonomous Robotic Networks to Help Modern Societies, ARCHES, project probed the ability of autonomous robots to collaborate and share data on a networked basis.
ESA’s four-wheeled, two-armed Interact rover was built by the Agency’s Human Robot Interaction Lab and modified for the rugged slopes of the volcano. This robot formed part of a team consisting of two DLR rovers – Lightweight Rover Units 1 and 2 – along with a fixed ‘lunar’ lander supplying WiFi and power to the rovers, plus a drone for surface mapping. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology contributed the centipede-like Scout crawler, optimised for tough terrain, which could also serve as a relay between Interact and the lander, boosting its effective area of operations.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, the agency’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C., will be named after Mary W. Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA.
Jackson started her NASA career in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Jackson, a mathematician and aerospace engineer, went on to lead programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. In 2019, she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
“Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space. Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology,” said Bridenstine. “Today, we proudly announce the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building. It appropriately sits on ‘Hidden Figures Way,’ a reminder that Mary is one of many incredible and talented professionals in NASA’s history who contributed to this agency’s success. Hidden no more, we will continue to recognize the contributions of women, African Americans, and people of all backgrounds who have made NASA’s successful history of exploration possible.”
The work of the West Area Computing Unit caught widespread national attention in the 2016 Margot Lee Shetterly book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.” The book was made into a popular movie that same year and Jackson’s character was played by award-winning actress Janelle Monáe.
“We are honored that NASA continues to celebrate the legacy of our mother and grandmother Mary W. Jackson,” said, Carolyn Lewis, Mary’s daughter. “She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at NASA, but throughout this nation.”
Jackson was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia. After graduating high school, she graduated from Hampton Institute in 1942 with a dual degree in math and physical sciences, and initially accepted a job as a math teacher in Calvert County, Maryland. She would work as a bookkeeper, marry Levi Jackson and start a family, and work a job as a U.S. Army secretary before her aerospace career would take off.
In 1951, Jackson was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which in 1958 was succeeded by NASA. She started as a research mathematician who became known as one of the human computers at Langley. She worked under fellow “Hidden Figure” Dorothy Vaughan in the segregated West Area Computing Unit.
After two years in the computing pool, Jackson received an offer to work in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a 60,000 horsepower wind tunnel capable of blasting models with winds approaching twice the speed of sound. There, she received hands-on experience conducting experiments. Her supervisor eventually suggested she enter a training program that would allow Jackson to earn a promotion from mathematician to engineer. Because the classes were held at then-segregated Hampton High School, Jackson needed special permission to join her white peers in the classroom.
Jackson completed the courses, earned the promotion, and in 1958 became NASA’s first Black female engineer. For nearly two decades during her engineering career, she authored or co-authored research numerous reports, most focused on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes. In 1979, she joined Langley’s Federal Women’s Program, where she worked hard to address the hiring and promotion of the next generation of female mathematicians, engineers and scientists. Mary retired from Langley in 1985.
Gonzalo Martín-de-Mercado specialises in optical telecommunications. He speaks about how his academic background helps him to support collaboration between ESA and companies.
NASA Headquarters employees joined Astronaut Reid Wiseman, Expedition 41 flight engineer, for a post-flight presentation on Tuesday, June 23, to learn about his time onboard the space station as part of Expedition 40 and 41. As a member of the ISS Expedition 41 crew, Wiseman began his stay aboard the orbiting laboratory in May 2014 and returned to Earth in November 2014. This mission was his first spaceflight and included almost 13 hours of spacewalking to perform work outside the orbital complex. He and his crewmates also spent hundreds of hours conducting valuable scientific research in areas such as human physiology, medicine, physical science, Earth science and astrophysics.
NASA Johnson Space Center Aerospace Engineer Jason Barbour answers questions from 5th grade students at Public School 174 Queens in Queens, New York during a NASA Digital Learning Network (DLN) interactive broadcast.
NASA DLN broadcasts are connecting students around the country with the live mission operations being done by the International Space Station Flight Control Team. ISS flight controllers, astronauts and scientists answer student’s questions about living and working in space, how the Houston mission control center operates, and a wealth of other topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Students on NASA’s Digital Learning Network hear from NASA’s Megan Hashier about her role as software Engineer for the International Space Station. Host: Kyle Herring.
