Misplaced Pages

#973026

96-637: The Habitation and Logistics Outpost ( HALO ), also called the Minimal Habitation Module ( MHM ) and formerly known as the Utilization Module , is a habitation module that is part of the Lunar Gateway . It will be built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems . A Falcon Heavy will launch HALO along with the PPE module and Halo Lunar Communication System, no earlier than 2027. Several concepts for

192-649: A Falcon Heavy rocket in 2027 They are expected to reach lunar orbit after nine to ten months. The I-Hab module, a contribution from ESA and JAXA, is to be launched on the SLS Block 1B as a co-manifested payload on the Artemis IV crewed Orion mission. All modules will be connected using the International Docking System Standard . The concept for the Gateway is still evolving, and is intended to include

288-454: A Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than 2027. NASA officials promote the Gateway as a "reusable command module" that could direct activities on the lunar surface. However, Gateway has received some negative reactions. Michael D. Griffin , a former NASA administrator, said that the Gateway could be useful only after there are facilities on the Moon producing propellant that could be transported to

384-405: A near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. The eccentricity of the chosen NRHO takes the station within 1,500 km (930 mi) of the lunar north pole surface at closest approach, and as far away as 70,000 km (43,000 mi) over the lunar south pole , with a period of about 7 days. One of the advantages of an NRHO is the minimal amount of communications blackout with

480-582: A broad range of scientific questions generally classified around four key areas: Earth sciences, astrophysics, heliophysics, and the Solar System. To simplify, Goddard studies Earth and Space. Within the Earth sciences area, Goddard plays a major role in research to advance our understanding of the Earth as an environmental system, looking at questions related to how the components of that environmental system have developed, how they interact and how they evolve. This

576-519: A console based workspace for various network elements to collaborate and provide the highest possible level of service to NASA and its customers. Some of the network elements included in the NSOCC support structure are Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF), Human Space Flight (HSF), Launch Vehicles (LV), and Robotics mission support leadership, Search and Rescue (SAR), and “Data Acquisition Processing and Handling Network Environment (DAPHNE+). The Goddard Visitor Center

672-471: A contributor to The Hill newspaper and an author of several space exploration studies, stated in an article that the "lunar orbit project doesn't help us get back to the Moon". Whittington also pointed out that a lunar orbiting space station was not used during the Apollo program and that a "reusable lunar lander could be refueled from a depot on the lunar surface and left in a parking orbit between missions without

768-584: A future destination, as someone who lived on the ISS for 200 days, I cannot envision a new technology that would be developed or validated by building another modular space station. Without a specific goal, we're unlikely to ever identify one". Virts further criticized NASA for abandoning its planned goal of separating crew from cargo, which was put in place following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stated that he

864-623: A lead role for the project in its early days and managed the first 250 employees involved in the effort, who were stationed at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia . However, the size and scope of Project Mercury soon prompted NASA to build a new Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center , in Houston , Texas. Project Mercury's personnel and activities were transferred there in 1961. Goddard Space Flight Center remained involved in

960-610: A mission, and Goddard engineers and technicians can design and build the spacecraft for that mission. Goddard scientist John C. Mather shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on COBE . GSFC also operates two spaceflight tracking and data acquisition networks (the Space Network and the Near Earth Network ), develops and maintains advanced space and Earth science data information systems, and develops satellite systems for

1056-585: A narrow corridor and a total of 1.5 cubic meters (53 cubic feet) of personal space to be shared by four astronauts. Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin called the Gateway "NASA's worst plan yet" in an article in the National Review . He said, "We do not need a lunar-orbiting station to go to the Moon . We do not need such a station to go to Mars . We do not need it to go to near-Earth asteroids . We do not need it to go anywhere. Nor can we accomplish anything in such

SECTION 10

#1733085404974

1152-740: A range of partners. One of the instruments, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), was developed by Goddard. LOLA measures landing site slopes and lunar surface roughness in order to generate a 3-D map of the Moon. Another mission to be managed by Goddard is MAVEN . MAVEN is the second mission within the Mars Scout Program that is exploring the atmosphere of Mars in support of NASA's broader efforts to go to Mars. MAVEN carries eight instruments to measure characteristics of Mars' atmospheric gases, upper atmosphere, solar wind , and ionosphere . Instrument development partners include

1248-687: A separate contract with Northrop for the fabrication of the HALO, and for integration with the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), being built by Maxar , for US$ 935 million. In mid 2024, the module reached significant completion and entered into the stress test phase in Thales Alenia 's facilities. Upon successful completion of the stress tests, it is planned to be shipped to the US Northrop Grumman facilities to undergo final launch preparation and integration with

1344-532: A set of scientific questions to be answered, and a set of scientific requirements for the mission, which build on what has already been discovered by prior missions. Scientific requirements spell out the types data that will need to be collected. These scientific requirements are then transformed into mission concepts that start to specify the kind of spacecraft and scientific instruments need to be developed for these scientific questions to be answered. Within Goddard,

1440-535: A space station to orbit it". Former NASA astronaut Terry W. Virts , who was a pilot of STS-130 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour and commander of the ISS on Expedition 43 , wrote in an op-ed on Ars Technica that the Gateway would "shackle human exploration, not enable it". He also said, "If we don't have the goal [of Gateway], we are putting the proverbial chicken before the egg by developing " Gemini " before we know what " Apollo " will look like. Regardless of

1536-486: A station that we cannot do in the Earth-orbiting International Space Station , except to expose human subjects to irradiation – a form of medical research for which a number of Nazi doctors were hanged ". Zubrin also stated, "If the goal is to build a Moon base, it should be built on the surface of the Moon. That is where the science is, that is where the shielding material is, and that is where

1632-505: A tetrahedral formation. Each of the four spacecraft carries identical instrument suites. MMS is part of a larger program (Solar Terrestrial Probes) that studies the impact of the Sun on the Solar System. In many cases, Goddard works with partners (US Government agencies, aerospace industry, university-based research centers, other countries) that are responsible for developing the scientific instruments. In other cases, Goddard develops one or more of

1728-596: A train station with access to the Washington Metro system and the MARC commuter train's Camden line. The High Bay Cleanroom located in building 29 is the world's largest ISO 7 cleanroom with 1.3 million cubic feet (37,000 m ) of space. Vacuum chambers in adjacent buildings 10 and 7 can be chilled or heated to ±200 °C (392 °F). Adjacent building 15 houses the High Capacity Centrifuge which

1824-603: A variety of space science disciplines. Goddard's most famous project is the Hubble Space Telescope , a unique science platform that has been breaking new ground in astronomy for nearly 20 years. Other missions such as the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) study the structure and evolution of the universe. Other missions such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are currently studying

1920-418: Is "quite opposed to the Gateway" and that "using the Gateway as a staging area for robotic or human missions to the lunar surface is absurd". Aldrin also questioned the benefit of the idea of sending "a crew to an intermediate point in space, pick up a lander there and go down". Conversely, Aldrin expressed support for Robert Zubrin 's Moon Direct concept which involves lunar landers traveling from Earth orbit to

2016-433: Is a NASA department founded in 1992 as part of their Systems Reliability and Safety Office at Goddard Space Flight Center. Its purpose was "to become a center of excellence in software assurance, dedicated to making measurable improvement in both the quality and reliability of software developed for NASA at GSFC". The center has been the source of research papers on software metrics, assurance, and risk management. While NASA

SECTION 20

#1733085404974

2112-643: Is all important to enable scientists to understand the practical impacts of natural and human activities during the coming decades and centuries. Within Space Sciences, Goddard has distinguished itself with the 2006 Nobel Physics Prize given to John Mather and the COBE mission. Beyond the COBE mission, Goddard studies how the universe formed, what it is made of, how its components interact, and how it evolves. The center also contributes to research seeking to understand how stars and planetary systems form and evolve and studies

2208-514: Is an electron spectrometer and will measure flux, density, speed and temperature of lower energy electrons of less than 30 KeV. It is built, supplied and operated by Goddard Space Flight Center. Solar Prove Analyser (SPAN-I) is an ion spectrometer. It will measure the flux, density, speed, temperature and type of low energy ions with energies less than 40KeV. SPAN-I will be supplied and operated by University of California, Berkeley . The ESA built European Radiation Sensors Array (ERSA) will measure

2304-661: Is capable of generating 30   G on up to a 2.3-tonne (2.5-short-ton) load. Parsons Corporation assisted in the construction of the Class 10,000 cleanroom to support Hubble Space Telescope as well as other Goddard missions. The High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) is NASA 's designated center for the archiving and dissemination of high energy astronomy data and information. Information on X-ray and gamma ray astronomy and related NASA mission archives are maintained for public information and science access. The Software Assurance Technology Center (SATC)

2400-558: Is composed of 14 space agencies including NASA, has concluded that Gateway systems will be critical in expanding human presence to the Moon , to Mars , and deeper into the Solar System . The project is expected to play a major role in the Artemis program after 2024. NASA's Budget for FY 2025 included $ 817.7 million for the project. While the project is led by NASA, the Gateway is meant to be developed, serviced, and used in collaboration with

2496-502: Is following Space Policy Directive 1", speaking of the Gateway and following up with "I would argue that we got there in 1969. That race is over, and we won. The time now is to build a sustainable, reusable architecture. [...] The next time we go to the Moon, we're going to have American boots on the Moon with the American flag on their shoulders, and they're going to be standing side-by-side with our international partners who have never been to

2592-489: Is one of the largest concentrations of the world's premier space scientists and engineers. The center is organized into 8 directorates, which includes Applied Engineering and Technology, Flight Projects, Science and Exploration, and Safety & Mission Assurance. Co-op students from universities in all 50 States can be found around the campus every season through the Cooperative Education Program. During

2688-479: Is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays, free of charge, and features displays of spacecraft and technologies developed there. The Hubble Space Telescope is represented by models and deep space imagery from recent missions. The center also features a Science On a Sphere projection system. The center also features an Educator's Resource Center available for use by teachers and education volunteers such as Boy and Girl Scout leaders, and hosts special events during

2784-796: Is organized into several directorates , each charged with one of these key functions. On May 1, 1959, the center was renamed the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) for Robert H. Goddard . Its first 157 employees transferred from the United States Navy 's Project Vanguard missile program, and continued their work at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., while the center was under construction. Goddard Space Flight Center contributed to Project Mercury , America's first human spaceflight program. The Center assumed

2880-453: Is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit . The science disciplines to be studied on the Gateway are expected to include planetary science , astrophysics , Earth observation , heliophysics , fundamental space biology , and human health and performance. As of April 2024, construction is underway of the initial habitation and propulsion modules. The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which

2976-630: Is the largest combined organization of scientists and engineers in the United States dedicated to increasing knowledge of the Earth , the Solar System , and the Universe via observations from space. GSFC is a major US laboratory for developing and operating uncrewed scientific spacecraft. GSFC conducts scientific investigation, development, manufacturing and operation of space systems, and development of related technologies. Goddard scientists can develop and support

Habitation and Logistics Outpost - Misplaced Pages Continue

3072-597: The Apollo Lunar Module . Lunar bases , like the first Tranquility Base as well as concepts for lunar bases have been the main focus of human presence at the Moon. An earlier NASA proposal for a cislunar station had been made public in 2012 and was dubbed the Deep Space Habitat . That proposal led to funding in 2015 under the NextSTEP program to study the requirements of deep space habitats. In February 2018, it

3168-554: The CSA , ESA , JAXA , and commercial partners. It will serve as the staging point for both robotic and crewed exploration of the lunar south pole and is the proposed staging point for NASA's Deep Space Transport concept for transport to Mars. Formerly known as the Deep Space Gateway ( DSG ), the station was renamed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway ( LOP-G ) in NASA's 2018 proposal for

3264-654: The Cosmic Background Explorer , provided unique scientific data about the early universe. Goddard currently supports the operation of dozens of spacecraft collecting scientific data. These missions include Earth science projects like the Earth Observing System (EOS) that includes the Terra , Aqua , and Aura spacecraft flying alongside several projects from other Centers or other countries. Other major Earth science projects that are currently operating include

3360-417: The Earth . Traveling to and from cislunar space (lunar orbit) is intended to develop the knowledge and experience necessary to venture beyond the Moon and into deep space. The proposed NRHO would allow lunar expeditions from the Gateway to reach a low polar orbit with a Δ v of 730 m/s and a half a day of transit time. Orbital station-keeping would require less than 10 m/s of Δ v per year, and

3456-573: The James Webb Space Telescope , which was launched in 2022 and enables investigations across many fields of astronomy and cosmology, such as observation of the first stars and the formation of the first galaxies. The Goddard community continually works on numerous operations and projects that have launch dates ranging from the upcoming year to a decade down the road. These operations also vary in what scientists hope they will uncover. NASA's missions (and therefore Goddard's missions) address

3552-666: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). These will provide power to the module prior to the deployment of the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) solar arrays and during occultation of the Sun by the Earth and Moon. The Canadian Space Agency will be providing interfaces and base point for use by Canadarm 3 . HALO will host two scientific packages at launch aimed at improving the understanding of space weather and prediction models. The NASA-built Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite and

3648-667: The Moon . The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part of the Artemis program . It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA , the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway

3744-604: The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 calls for "the establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes." Because of this mandate, the Technology Utilization Program was established in 1962 which required technologies to be brought down to Earth and commercialized in order to help

3840-793: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). GSFC manages operations for many NASA and international missions including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Explorers Program , the Discovery Program , the Earth Observing System (EOS), INTEGRAL , MAVEN , OSIRIS-REx , the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory ( SOHO ), the Solar Dynamics Observatory ( SDO ), Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRS) , Fermi , and Swift . Past missions managed by GSFC include

3936-482: The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer ( RXTE ), Compton Gamma Ray Observatory , SMM , COBE , IUE , and ROSAT . Founded as Beltsville Space Center, Goddard was NASA's first of four space centers . Its original charter was to perform five major functions on behalf of NASA: technology development and fabrication, planning, scientific research , technical operations, and project management. The center

Habitation and Logistics Outpost - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-564: The Solar System . The center's contribution to the Earth Science Enterprise includes several spacecraft in the Earth Observing System fleet as well as EOSDIS , a science data collection, processing, and distribution system. For the crewed space flight program, Goddard develops tools for use by astronauts during extra-vehicular activity , and operates the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , a spacecraft designed to study

4128-783: The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM), missions that provide data critical to hurricane predictions. Many Goddard projects support other organizations, such as the US Geological Survey on Landsat-7 and -8, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system that provide weather predictions. Other Goddard missions support

4224-569: The University of Colorado at Boulder , and the University of California, Berkeley . Goddard contributed overall project management as well as two of the instruments, two magnetometers. Once a mission is launched and reaches its destination, its instruments start collecting data. The data is transmitted back to Earth where it needs to be analyzed and stored for future reference. Goddard manages large collections of scientific data resulting from past and ongoing missions. The Earth Science Division hosts

4320-399: The orbital inclination could be shifted with a relatively small Δ v expenditure, allowing access to most of the lunar surface. Spacecraft launched from Earth would perform a powered flyby of the Moon (Δ v ≈ 180 m/s) followed by a Δ v ≈ 240 m/s NRHO insertion burn to dock with the Gateway as it approaches the apoapsis point of its orbit. The total travel time would be 5 days;

4416-525: The 2019 United States federal budget. When the NASA budget was signed into law on February 15, 2019, US$ 450 million had been committed by Congress to preliminary studies. In November 2019, NASA unveiled the name and logo of the space station inspired by the American frontier symbol of the St. Louis Gateway Arch . The Apollo Command and Service Module was the first crewed lunar orbiting spacecraft performing dockings and crew transfers with another spacecraft,

4512-707: The Deep Space Gateway's location in cislunar space. The Deep Space Gateway Concept Science Workshop was held in Denver, Colorado, from 27 February to 1 March 2018. This three-day conference was a workshop where 196 presentations were given for possible scientific studies that could be advanced through the use of the Gateway. In 2018, NASA initiated the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition for universities to develop concepts and capabilities for

4608-548: The ESA-built European Radiation Sensors Array (ERSA). HERMES will explore Earth's interaction with the solar wind and the behavior of the magnetotail . The hope is to build a better understanding on the causes of space-weather variability as driven by the Sun and modulated by the magnetosphere. The experiment Suite has three science goals: determine mechanisms of solar wind mass and energy transport; characterize energy, topology, and ion composition in

4704-533: The Earth's resources since the launch of the first mission in 1972. TIROS-1 launched in 1960 as the first success in a long series of weather satellites . The Spartan platform deployed from the space shuttle, allowing simple, low-cost 2–3 day missions. The second of NASA's Great Observatories , the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory , operated for nine years before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere in 2000. Another of Goddard's space science observatories,

4800-400: The Gateway as well as other commercial applications, so the Gateway is likely to incorporate components developed under NextSTEP as well. The PPE will use four 6 kW BHT-6000 Busek Hall-effect thrusters and three 12 kW NASA / Aerojet Rocketdyne Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) Hall-effect thrusters for a total engine output fractionally under 50 kW. In 2019,

4896-452: The Gateway project, each contributing a robotic arm called Canadarm3 (CSA), refuelling and communications hardware, habitation and research capacity and an airlock module. These international elements are intended to launch after the initial NASA PPE and HALO elements are placed into lunar orbit with some co-manifested with Artemis missions. On 1 November 2017, NASA commissioned five studies lasting four months into affordable ways to develop

SECTION 50

#1733085404974

4992-425: The Gateway, the thinking is we'll be able to reuse the ascent modules potentially multiple times. And again, if we can get mission duration beyond the 30 days, it's going to offer us some additional environmental capabilities. We think it's a tremendous risk buy down asset, not only to explore the Moon sustainably, but to prove out some things that we need to do to get to Mars. Goddard Space Flight Center GSFC

5088-595: The Gateway, with just with one logistics module, we think we can extend to about twice the mission duration, so 30 days to 60 days. Obviously, the more crew time you have in lunar orbit helps us with research in the human aspects of living in deep space. The more duration we have, certainly that'll help us buy down significant risk with the extreme environments that we're going to be subjecting our crews to. Because we've got to go figure out how to operate in deep space. Obviously we'll demonstrate new hardware and offer that sustainable flexible path for our Lunar Lander system. With

5184-486: The Gateway. Griffin thinks that after that is achieved, the Gateway would then serve as a fuel depot. In a written testimony to Congress, Griffin stated that the current architecture requiring staging operations at a Gateway based in a lunar polar near-rectlinear halo orbit (NRHO) with a 6.5-day period was disadvantageous in that immediate return to the Gateway from the lunar surface is possible only on 6.5-day centers and that no early human lunar mission should knowingly accept

5280-495: The Gateway. The competitors were asked to employ original engineering and analysis in one of four areas; "Gateway Uncrewed Utilization and Operations", "Gateway-Based Human Lunar Surface Access", "Gateway Logistics as a Science Platform", and "Design of a Gateway-Based Cislunar Tug". Teams of undergraduate and graduate students were asked to submit a response by 17 January 2019 addressing one of these four themes. NASA selected 20 teams to continue developing proposed concepts. Fourteen of

5376-493: The Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). It offers Earth science data, information, and services to research scientists, applications scientists, applications users, and students. The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA), created at Goddard in 1966, hosts a permanent archive of space science data, including a large collection of images from space. Section 102(d) of

5472-666: The Greenbelt site. These facilities are: GSFC is also responsible for the White Sands Complex , a set of two sites in Las Cruces, NM , but the site is owned by Johnson Space Center as part of the White Sands Test Facility . Goddard Space Flight Center has a workforce of over 3,000 civil servant employees, 60% of whom are engineers and scientists. There are approximately 7,000 supporting contractors on site every day. It

5568-1035: The MSFNOCC, the facility was renamed to the Network Control Center (NCC). It remained the NCC until 1997-1999 when the NIC was born. The NIC supported the beginning of the new age of growing space communications which included the International Space Station (ISS). The facility was later renovated from the floor up to become the Near Space Operations Control Center (NSOCC) in 2023. The NSOCC currently provides critical mission support for various launch efforts including SpaceX Crew & Cargo, Science missions such as JWST & PACE, and provides critical data services for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and European Space Agency (ESA). The NSOCC provides

5664-402: The Moon before". Dan Hartman, the program manager for Gateway, on 30 March 2020, told Ars Technica that the benefits of using Gateway are extending the mission duration, buying down risk, providing research capability and the capability to re-use ascent modules. When you go single, I'll say direct mission to the Moon, you're limited on the supplies, either with the Lander or with Orion. With

5760-453: The Moon in preparation for future crewed exploration . A fact sheet highlighting many of Goddard's previous missions is recorded on a 40th anniversary webpage. Goddard has been involved in designing, building, and operating spacecraft since the days of Explorer 1 , the nation's first artificial satellite. The list of these missions reflects a diverse set of scientific objectives and goals. The Landsat series of spacecraft has been studying

5856-404: The Orion spacecraft and support a crew of four for at least 30 days. The exterior of the HALO module will feature body-mounted radiators (BMRs), batteries and communications antennae will be added. One axial docking port will connect to the International logistics and habitat module (I-HAB) and one radial docking port is allocated for use by the Human Landing System . Batteries will be provided by

SECTION 60

#1733085404974

5952-439: The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), leveraging private companies' plans. These studies had a combined budget of US$ 2.4 million. The companies performing the PPE studies were Boeing , Lockheed Martin , Orbital ATK , Sierra Nevada and Space Systems /Loral. These awards are in addition to the ongoing set of NextSTEP-2 awards made in 2016 to study development and make ground prototypes of habitat modules that could be used on

6048-666: The Power and Propulsion Element. The stress testing was successfully completed in October 2024. The HALO will form an initial scaled-down habitation module. Its primary purpose will be to fulfill the life-support requirements of visiting crew on Orion spacecraft and a space to allow preparations for lunar landing departure. It will feature a functional pressurized volume providing sufficient command, control and data handling capabilities, energy storage and power distribution, thermal control, communications and tracking capabilities, two axial and up to two radial docking ports, stowage volume, environmental control and life-support systems to augment

6144-498: The Sciences and Exploration Directorate (SED) leads the center's scientific endeavors, including the development of technology related to scientific pursuits. Some of the most important technological advances developed by Goddard (and NASA in general) come from the need to innovate with new scientific instruments in order to be able to observe or measure phenomena in space that have never been measured or observed before. Instrument names tend to be known by their initials. In some cases,

6240-480: The Sun and how its behavior affects life on the Earth. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is mapping out the composition and topography of the Moon and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is tracking the Sun's energy and influence on the Earth. The OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission returned a sample from asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2023 and under the name OSIRIS-APEX is headed to asteroid 99942 Apophis in 2029. Particularly noteworthy operations include

6336-639: The US economy and improve the quality of life. Documentation of these technologies that were spun off started in 1976 with "Spinoff 1976". Since then, NASA has produced a yearly publication of these spinoff technologies through the Innovative Partnerships Program Office. Goddard Space Flight Center has made significant contributions to the US economy and quality of life with the technologies it has spun off. Here are some examples: Weather balloon technology has helped firefighters with its short-range radios; aluminized Mylar in satellites has made sports equipment more insulated; laser optics systems have transformed

6432-416: The camera industry and life detection missions on other planets help scientists find bacteria in contaminated food. Goddard's partly wooded campus is 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., in Prince George's County . The center is on Greenbelt Road, which is Maryland Route 193 . Baltimore, Annapolis, and NASA Headquarters in Washington are 30–45 minutes away by highway. Greenbelt also has

6528-413: The contract to manufacture the PPE was awarded to Maxar Technologies . After a one-year demonstration period, NASA intended to "exercise a contract option to take over control of the spacecraft". Its expected service time is about 15 years. In late 2023, it was reported that flight qualification testing was occurring on the thrusters for the Power and Propulsion Element. The Gateway will be deployed in

6624-556: The crewed space flight program, providing computer support and radar tracking of flights through a worldwide network of ground stations called the Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STDN). However, the Center focused primarily on designing uncrewed satellites and spacecraft for scientific research missions. Goddard pioneered several fields of spacecraft development, including modular spacecraft design, which reduced costs and made it possible to repair satellites in orbit. Goddard's Solar Max satellite, launched in 1980,

6720-705: The deep magnetotail; and establish observational capabilities of an on-board pathfinder payload measuring local space weather to support deep-space and long-term human exploration. The suite will consist of four instruments. Fluxgate and Magneto-Inductive Magnetometers will measure Magnetic Field Vector. Built and supplied by Goddard Space Flight Center . Principal investigators from University of Michigan and Goddard Space Flight Center. Miniaturized Electron pRoton Telescope (MERiT) to measure ion flux of energies between 1-190 MeV and electron flux of energies between 0.3 - 9 MeV. Built, supplied and operated by Goddard Space Flight Center. Electron Electrostatic Analyser (EEA)

6816-404: The effect and impact of the solar wind on astronauts and equipment. The suite will include the Influence sur les Composants Avancés des Radiations de l'Espace (ICARE-NG) to measure ionizing radiation; and the European Active Dosimeter to measure radiation energies. Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway , or simply Gateway , is a space station which is planned to be assembled in orbit around

6912-503: The engineers to develop these instruments. Typically, a mission consists of a spacecraft with an instrument suite (multiple instruments) on board. In some cases, the scientific requirements dictate the need for multiple spacecraft. For example, the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) studies magnetic reconnection, a 3-D process. In order to capture data about this complex 3-D process, a set of four spacecraft fly in

7008-555: The first deep-space station, far from low Earth orbit . This will be enabled by more sophisticated executive control software than on any prior space station, which will monitor and control all systems. The high-level architecture is provided by the Robotics and Intelligence for Human Spaceflight lab at NASA and implemented at NASA facilities. The Gateway could conceivably also support in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) development and testing from lunar and asteroid sources, and would offer

7104-417: The following modules: Crewed flights to the Gateway are expected to use Orion and SLS, while other missions are expected to be done by commercial launch providers. In March 2020, NASA announced SpaceX with its future spacecraft Dragon XL as the first commercial partner to deliver supplies to the Gateway (see Gateway Logistics Services ). The first two modules (PPE and HALO) will be launched together on

7200-557: The general public, but attendees must sign up in advance to procure a visitors pass for access to the center's main grounds. Passes can be obtained at the security office main gate on Greenbelt Road. Goddard also hosts several different internship opportunities, including NASA DEVELOP at Goddard Space Flight Center. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited Goddard Space Flight Center on Tuesday, May 8, 2007. The tour of Goddard

7296-667: The initial habitation module of a lunar orbital outpost had been developed under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships 2 (NextSTEP-2) program. With the 2024 goal set by the Trump administration , NASA acknowledged it needed to leverage this program in order to meet the timelines set. In July 2019, NASA decided to sole source its design for the Minimal Habitation Module of the Lunar Gateway to Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The motivation to sole source

7392-470: The instruments. The individual instruments are then integrated into an instrument suite which is then integrated with the spacecraft. In the case of MMS, for example, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) was responsible for developing the scientific instruments and Goddard provides overall project management, mission systems engineering, the spacecraft, and mission operations. On the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), six instruments have been developed by

7488-429: The lander elements (ascent and descent/transfer) on an SLS Block 1B. If an independent transfer element is required, it can be launched on a commercial launcher". George Abbey , a former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center , said, "The Gateway is, in essence, building a space station to orbit a natural space station, namely the Moon. [...] If we are going to return to the Moon, we should go directly there, not build

7584-619: The lunar surface and back. Architect René Waclavicek, who was involved with the design of the I-HAB module, noted the difficulty of designing a comfortable living quarter for astronauts visiting Gateway. His team was forced to shrink the size of the module to the point where its diameter is just 1.2 meters (4 feet), owing to the limited amount of weight current launch vehicles can carry to Lunar orbit and other technical limits. Additionally, most of I-HAB's 8 cubic meters (280 cubic feet) of available space will be filled with life support equipment, leaving

7680-443: The lunar surface", reducing the time delay. His final opinion was that the Gateway is "a great way to spend a great deal of money, advancing science and humanity in no appreciable way". On 10 December 2018, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a presentation "There are people who say we need to get there, and we need to get there tomorrow", speaking of a crewed mission to the Moon, countering with "What we're doing here at NASA

7776-529: The mission's name gives an indication of the type of instrument involved. For example, the James Webb Space Telescope is, as its name indicates, a telescope, but it includes a suite of four distinct scientific instruments: Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI); Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam); Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec); Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS-NIRISS). Scientists at Goddard work closely with

7872-465: The nature of the Sun's interaction with its surroundings. Based on existing knowledge accumulated through previous missions, new science questions are articulated. Missions are developed in the same way an experiment would be developed using the scientific method. In this context, Goddard does not work as an independent entity but rather as one of the 10 NASA centers working together to find answers to these scientific questions. Each mission starts with

7968-528: The need for a big, complex space station". Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel wrote an article in Forbes titled "NASA's Idea For A Space Station In Lunar Orbit Takes Humanity Nowhere". Siegel stated that "Orbiting the Moon represents barely incremental progress; the only scientific "advantages" to being in lunar orbit as opposed to low Earth orbit are twofold: 1. You're outside of the Van Allen belts . 2. You're closer to

8064-472: The opportunity for a gradual buildup of capabilities for more complex missions over time. For supporting the first crewed mission to the station ( Artemis IV ) planned for 2028, the Gateway will begin as a minimal space station composed of only two modules: the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO). Both PPE and HALO will be assembled on Earth and launched together on

8160-437: The outside of which radial docking ports, body-mounted radiators (BMRs), batteries and communications antennae will be added. NASA chose the "minimal" design, which offered the advantage of component compatibility and expedited testing of life-support systems on existing Cygnus spacecraft. On 5 June 2020, NASA awarded Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems a $ 187 million contract to complete the preliminary design of HALO. NASA signed

8256-469: The resources to make propellant and other useful things are to be found". Retired aerospace engineer Gerald Black wrote in an article on The Space Review stating that the Gateway is "useless for supporting human return to the lunar surface and a lunar base". He added that it was not planned to be used as a rocket fuel depot and that stopping at the Gateway on the way to or from the Moon would serve no useful purpose and cost propellant. Mark Whittington,

8352-484: The return to Earth would be similar in terms of trip duration and Δ v requirement if the spacecraft spends 11 days at the Gateway. The crewed mission duration of 21 days and Δ v ≈ 840 m/s is limited by the capabilities of the Orion life support and propulsion systems. Gateway will be the first modular space station to be both human-rated, and autonomously operating most of the time in its early years, as well as being

8448-644: The risk of stranding a crew, whether on the surface or in lunar orbit, for days at a time. Clive Neal, a University of Notre Dame geologist and advocate for the lunar exploration program, called the Gateway "a waste of money" and stated that NASA is "not fulfilling space policy by building an orbital space station around the Moon". Former NASA Associate Administrator Doug Cooke wrote in an article on The Hill stating, "NASA can significantly increase speed, simplicity, cost and probability of mission success by deferring Gateway, leveraging SLS, and reducing critical mission operations". He also wrote, "NASA should launch

8544-838: The summers, programs such as the Summer Institute in Engineering and Computer Applications (SIECA) and Excellence through Challenging Exploration and Leadership (EXCEL) provide internship opportunities to students from the US and territories such as Puerto Rico to learn and partake in challenging scientific and engineering work. The Goddard Space Flight Center maintains ties with local area communities through external volunteer and educational programs. Employees are encouraged to take part in mentoring programs and take on speaking roles at area schools. On Center, Goddard hosts regular colloquiums in engineering, leadership and science. These events are open to

8640-622: The teams presented their projects in person in June 2019 at the RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, receiving a US$ 6,000 stipend to participate in the Forum. The "Lunar Exploration and Access to Polar Regions", from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez , was the winning concept. On 27 September 2017, an informal joint statement on cooperation regarding the program between NASA and Russia's Roscosmos

8736-520: The year. As an example, in September 2008 the Center opened its gates for Goddard LaunchFest. The event, free to the public, included; robot competitions, tours of Goddard facilities hosted by NASA employees, and live entertainment on the Goddard grounds. GSFC also has a large ballroom for guest events such as lectures, presentations and dinner parties. GSFC operates three facilities that are not located at

8832-430: Was announced that the NextSTEP studies and other ISS partner studies would help to guide the capabilities required of the Gateway's habitation modules. The solar electric Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) of the Gateway was originally a part of the now-canceled Asteroid Redirect Mission . On 7 November 2017, NASA asked the global science community to submit concepts for scientific studies that could take advantage of

8928-620: Was announced. However, in October 2020 Dmitry Rogozin , director general of Roscosmos, said that the program is too “U.S.-centric” for Roscosmos to participate, and in January 2021, Roscosmos announced that it would not participate in the program. As of January 2024, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) plan to participate in

9024-508: Was based on NASA's assessment that Northrop were the only existing NextSTEP-2 contractor with the designs and production capabilities to meet the module requirements and within the set timescale. Northrop offered a "minimal" 6.1-meter (20 feet) by 3-meter (9.8 feet) design based on the Cygnus spacecraft, as well as a larger 7-meter (22.9 feet) by 4.4-meter (14.4 feet) design also based on the Cygnus, to

9120-619: Was in the midst of the Gemini mission era there was a need for a new kind of operations hub and the Manned Space Flight Network Control Center (MSFNOCC) was created in building 13. The name has changed over the years and as such, the capability has grown; the facility has been the GSFC hub for human space flight and launch vehicle missions for years and has the distinct honor of having supported every single Shuttle mission. After

9216-600: Was repaired by astronauts on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, remains in service and continues to grow in capability thanks to its modular design and multiple servicing missions by the Space Shuttle. Today, the center remains involved in each of NASA's key programs. Goddard has developed more instruments for planetary exploration than any other organization, among them scientific instruments sent to every planet in

#973026