Launching a Pair of Earth-Observing Small Satellites on This Week @NASA – May 31, 2024

Launching a pair of Earth-observing small satellites, an intriguing planet discovered outside of our solar system, and its “full cruise ahead” for our mission to a metal-rich asteroid … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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Launching a pair of Earth-observing small satellites. An intriguing planet discovered outside of our solar system. And its “full cruise ahead” for our mission to a metal-rich asteroid. A few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! On May 25, the first pair of Earth-observing climate satellites for our PREFIRE mission launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand.

The shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, will measure the amount of heat that radiates into space from Earth’s poles – two of the coldest, most remote regions on the planet. Data from the mission will help researchers better predict how Earth’s ice, seas, and weather will change in a warming world. Using observations by our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS mission and many other facilities, two international teams of astronomers have discovered a planet outside of our solar system that is between the sizes of Earth and Venus. The planet, called Gliese 12 b, orbits a cool red dwarf star located about 40 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. Multiple factors make it a candidate well-suited for further study using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Our Psyche spacecraft recently passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of health. The spacecraft, which is on its way to study a metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is already beyond the distance of Mars. For the next year, the spacecraft will be in what mission planners call “full cruise” mode – using its ion propulsion thrusters to propel it toward the asteroid belt. Data from the mission will help scientists better understand the formation of rocky planets with metallic cores, including Earth. The Euclid mission, led by ESA – the European Space Agency – with contributions from NASA, has released five new images that showcase the space telescope’s ability to explore dark matter and dark energy.

Dark matter is an invisible substance with an unknown composition that is five times more common in the universe than “regular” matter. Dark energy is the name given to the unknown source causing the universe to expand faster and faster. The mission, which launched in July 2023, will complement future dark energy studies by NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission. That’s what’s up this week @NASA! For more about what else we’re up to, check out nasa.

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