NASA COSmIC Simulator Recreates Space Dust

Scanning Electron Microscope image of a large (approximately 1.5 micrometer diameter) aggregate of nanograins produced in the Cosmic Simulation Chamber (COSmIC) at NASA's Ames Research Center, using a 95 percent Ar - 5% C2H2 gas mixture. 

The nanograins and aggregates are deposited onto ultra-high vacuum aluminum foil. 

Image courtesy NASA/Ames/Farid Salama.

A team of scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., has successfully reproduced, right here on Earth, the processes that occur in the atmosphere of a red giant star and lead to the formation of planet-forming interstellar dust.

Using a specialist facility, called the Cosmic Simulation Chamber (COSmIC) designed and built at Ames, scientists now are able to recreate and study in the laboratory dust grains similar to the grains that form in the outer layers of dying stars.

Scientists plan to use the dust to gather clues to better understand the composition and the evolution of the universe.

Dust grains that form around dying stars and are ejected into the interstellar medium lead, after a life cycle spanning millions of years, to the formation of planets and are a key component of the universe's evolution.

Scientists have found the materials that make up the building blocks of the universe are much more complicated than originally anticipated.

"The harsh conditions of space are extremely difficult to reproduce in the laboratory, and have long hindered efforts to interpret and analyze observations from space," said Farid Salama, project leader and a space science researcher at Ames.

"Using the COSmIC simulator we can now discover clues to questions about the composition and the evolution of the universe, both major objectives of NASA's space research program."

In the past, the inability to simulate space conditions in the gaseous state prevented scientists from identifying unknown matter.

Because conditions in space are vastly different from conditions on Earth, it is challenging to identify extraterrestrial materials.

Thanks to COSmIC, researchers can successfully simulate gas-phase environments similar to interstellar clouds, stellar envelopes or planetary atmospheres environments by expanding gases using a cold jet spray of argon gas seeded with hydrocarbons that cools down the molecules to temperatures representative of these environments.

COSmIC integrates a variety of state-of-the-art instruments to allow scientists to recreate space conditions in the laboratory to form, process and monitor simulated planetary and interstellar materials.

The chamber is the heart of the system. It recreates the extreme conditions that reign in space where interstellar molecules and ions float in a vacuum at densities that are billionths of Earth's atmosphere, average temperatures can be less than -270 degrees Fahrenheit (about 100 degrees Kelvin), and the environment is bathed in ultraviolet and visible radiation emanating from nearby stars.

"By using COSmIC and building up on the work we recently published in the Astrophysical Journal August 29, 2013, we now can for the first time truly recreate and visualize in the laboratory the formation of carbon grains in the envelope of stars and learn about the formation, structure and size distribution of stellar dust grains," said Cesar Contreras of the Bay Area Environmental Research (BAER) Institute and a research fellow at Ames.

"This type of new research truly pushes the frontiers of science toward new horizons, and illustrates NASA's important contribution to science."

The team started with small hydrocarbon molecules that it expanded in the cold jet spray in COSmIC and exposed to high energy in an electric discharge.

They detected and characterized the large molecules that are formed in the gas phase from these precursor molecules with highly sensitive detectors, then collected the individual solid grains formed from these complex molecules and imaged them using the Ames Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) (Hitachi S4800 Field Emission SEM).

"During COSmIC experiments, we are able to form and detect nanoparticles on the order of 10 nm size, grains ranging from 100-500 nanometers and aggregates of grains up to 1.5 micrometers in diameter, about a tenth the width of a human hair, and observe their structure with SEM, thus sampling a large size distribution of the grains produced," said Ella Sciamma-O'Brien, of the BAER Institute and a research fellow at Ames.

These results have important implications and ramifications not only for interstellar astrophysics, but also for planetary science.

For example, they can provide new clues on the type of grains present in the dust around stars.

That in turn, will help us understand the formation of planets, including Earth-like planets.

They also will help interpret astronomical data from the ESA Herschel Space Observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and ESO's ALMA, the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in Chile.

"Today we are celebrating a major milestone in our understanding of the formation and the nature of cosmic dust grains that bears important implications in this new era of exoplanets discoveries," concluded Salama.

NASA IRIS: Preparation for Launch of Next Solar Satellite

This is a photo of the complete IRIS observatory with the solar arrays deployed. 

This is taken in a large clean tent at Lockheed Martin prior to vibration testing and prior to installation of the flight MLI blankets. 

The solar arrays have just been deployed using flight commands. 

Image credit: LM Photo

NASA's next scientific satellite, which is scheduled for launch June 26, will provide the most detailed look ever at the sun's lower atmosphere or interface region.

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission will observe how solar material moves, gathers energy, and heats up as it travels through this largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere.

The interface region, located between the sun's visible surface and upper atmosphere, is where most of the sun's ultraviolet emission is generated. These emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

The IRIS spacecraft was designed and built by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center. It will launch aboard a Pegasus XL rocket deployed by an Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast.

"IRIS data will fill a crucial gap in our understanding of the solar interface region upon joining our fleet of heliophysics spacecraft," said Jeffrey Newmark, NASA's IRIS program scientist in Washington.

"For the first time we will have the necessary observations for understanding how energy is delivered to the million-degree outer solar corona and how the base of the solar wind is driven."

IRIS carries an ultraviolet telescope that feeds a multi-channel imaging spectrograph. The satellite is the first mission designed to use an ultraviolet telescope to obtain high-resolution images and spectra every few seconds and provide observations of areas as small as 150 miles across the sun.

"Previous observations suggest there are structures in this region of the solar atmosphere 100 to 150 miles wide, but 100,000 miles long," said Alan Title, IRIS principal investigator at Lockheed Martin.

"Imagine giant jets like huge fountains that have a footprint the size of Los Angeles and are long enough and fast enough to circle Earth in 20 seconds.

IRIS will provide our first high-resolution views of these structures along with information about their velocity, temperature and density."

After launch, IRIS will travel in a polar, sun-synchronous orbit around Earth, crossing nearly directly over the poles in such a way that it moves over the equator at the same local time each day.

The spacecraft will orbit at an altitude range of 390 miles to 420 miles. This orbit allows for almost continuous solar observations on IRIS' two-year mission.

IRIS' unique capabilities will be coupled with state of the art 3-D numerical modeling on supercomputers, such as Pleiades, housed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Recent improvements in the power of supercomputers, such as Pleiades, to analyze large amounts of data will enable IRIS to provide better information about the region than ever before.

Planets Found by Kepler Spacecraft Likely Larger Than Thought

The artist's concept depicts Kepler-62f, a super-Earth planet in the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun, located about 1,200 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. 

CREDIT: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

A large number of worlds found by NASA's Kepler alien planet-hunting space telescope are probably significantly larger than scientists previously estimated, a new study suggests.

The Kepler Space Telescope has spotted more than 2,700 potential exoplanets since its launch in 2009, and scientists using the Kitt Peak National Observatory Mayall 4-meter telescope have categorized the home stars of many of those planet candidates for the past three years.

In particular, the researchers made detailed follow-up observations of 300 of the stars Kepler found likely to be harboring exoplanets.

"One of the main findings of this initial work is that our observations indicate that most of the stars we observed are slightly larger than previously thought and one quarter of them are at least 35 percent larger," astronomer and leader of the study Mark Everett said in a statement.

"Therefore, any planets orbiting these stars must be larger and hotter as well. By implication, these new results reduce the number of candidate Earth-size planet analogues detected by Kepler."

Smartphone Photos From Earth Orbit

These images of Earth were reconstructed from photos taken by three smartphones in orbit, or "PhoneSats." 

The trio of PhoneSats launched on April 21, 2013, aboard the Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and ended a successful mission on April 27. 

The ultimate goal of the PhoneSat mission was to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics for a satellite in space.

During their time in orbit, the three miniature satellites used their smartphone cameras to take pictures of Earth and transmitted these "image-data packets" to multiple ground stations. 

Every packet held a small piece of the big picture. As the data became available, the PhoneSat Team and multiple amateur radio operators around the world collaborated to piece together photographs from the tiny data packets.

The PhoneSat project is a technology demonstration mission funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and the Engineering Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center. 

The project started in summer 2009 as a student-led collaborative project between Ames and the International Space University, Strasbourg.

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Images Credit: NASA Ames

SpaceX Capsule: AMES Big Science for International Space Station

The NanoRacks Plate Reader, shown here, will enable in orbit analysis of research samples for certain studies aboard the International Space Station. 

CREDIT: NASA

The International Space Station is now home to more than 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies delivered by an unmanned, privately built space capsule that reached the orbiting science laboratory on Sunday (March 3).

Among the goods SpaceX's Dragon capsule transported to the station were science experiments primed and ready for the six international residents of the space station.

See our previous Post on the SpaceX AMES experiment container /payload

"Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on March 25, bringing home nearly double the amount of supplies it brought up, about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms)," NASA officials said in a statement.

"Returning investigation samples will demonstrate how life in microgravity affects the growth of plant seedlings, changes to the human body, the behavior of semiconductors and detergents, and more."

Some of the experiments will only stay on board for three weeks, making a round trip back to Earth with Dragon when the capsule detaches from the station.

One of those experiments involves thale cress, a plant used in many experiments because of its small, relatively easy-to-map genome.

Scientists affiliated with NASA and the European Space Agency sent up one experiment called "Seedling Growth-1," designed to investigate how well plants grow amid stresses such as low oxygen.

"The experiment will study how plants adapt to micro- and low-gravity environments," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

"Researchers hope to determine the ability of vegetation to provide a complete, sustainable, dependable and economical means for human life-support in space."



Beyond helping scientists learn how to grow food in space, the research might contribute to better agricultural practices back on Earth.

Understanding how these plants react to a stressful environment could lend insight into how farmers could mitigate those taxing situations back on the planet's surface.

Some of the experiments sent to the International Space Station will play a role in education, as well.

The Experiment Container with Plant Seedling Seed Cassettes (seedlings, inset lower right) is an example of the samples returning aboard the SpaceX Dragon vehicle for ground analysis.

CREDIT: NASA

"Students from several California schools developed investigations to study bacteria, iron corrosion, battery performance and carbon dioxide levels aboard the station, all of which will be delivered by Dragon," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

Personal product manufacturer Procter & Gamble sent up another experiment that will study how to better preserve toothpaste, gels and creams.

SpaceX Dragon: NASA AMES Space Station Experiments Payload

Two bioscience payloads are scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station Friday, March 1, on the second Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) cargo resupply mission contracted by NASA. 

The experiments, Seedling Growth-1 and the Cell Bio Tech Demo, aim to expand knowledge of how living things respond to the harsh environment of space.

Seedling Growth-1 is the first in a series of joint NASA-European Space Agency (ESA) experiments designed to improve understanding of plant growth in space. The experiment will study how plants adapt to micro- and low-gravity environments.

Researchers hope to determine the ability of vegetation to provide a complete, sustainable, dependable and economical means for human life support in space.

Understanding plant growth also helps on Earth, supporting the development of strategies to optimize light sensing in plants, and modifying plant species to potentially improve crop production, lessen environmental impact and support greater sustainability of agricultural production to benefit human agriculture.

Designed and built at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., the unique hardware is mounted to ESA-built experiment containers and is completely self-contained, providing air circulation, water and light for the seeds.

Once on the space station, the experiment containers will be mounted in a centrifuge in ESA's European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) to test the effects of micro- and low-gravity environments on the growth of the seeds.

"The Seedling Growth experiments are an exciting opportunity for international collaboration between NASA and ESA to support critical space flight plant experiments to benefit Earth and Space Life Sciences," said Marianne Steele, project manager for Seedling Growth.

"The data from the experiments will be shared between both NASA and ESA researchers and our team here at Ames is thrilled to be part of this fantastic adventure."

Plant biology experiments on the space station using the EMCS allow scientists to investigate plant growth and the processes within their cells to understand how plant life responds to conditions in space.

The EMCS is a facility in which small organisms can grow in variable gravity conditions using a centrifuge.

Other conditions, such as temperature, atmosphere composition, water supply, illumination and imaging, also are controlled in the facility.

“Massively Redundant” Water Walls Spacecraft To Use Water for Everything | Space Safety Magazine

The Water Walls spacecraft concept, designed by Michael Flynn of NASA’s Ames Research Center, aims to achieve lifesupport aboard crewed spacecraft the way nature does – with water.

The project, formally known as Highly Reliable and Massively Redundant Life Support Architecture, suggests the use of a hexagonal framework of water-filled bags to form the spacecraft’s walls.

The water would protect the enclosed crew from space radiation, but that’s not all.

The bags would be filled with filters, algae, and bacteria to provide a complete biosystem, breaking down crew waste products, cleaning the water and air, and providing food.

The “massively redundant” part comes in because aside from pumps to transport the water, there would be no mechanical elements to this system, therefore fewer parts to breakdown.

As Flynn says, “Nature uses no compressors, evaporators, lithium hydroxide canisters, oxygen candles, or urine processors.”

The spacecraft would consist of five water processing elements: waste water treatment, solid waste treatment, CO2 air scrubbing, food production, and radiation protection.

Each element would be housed in separate bags, all of which would compose the spacecraft walls. Spare bags could be carried to replaced depleted elements.

This is not the first time water has been proposed as a radiation barrier to protect spacecrews but this is the first to holistically address water’s use.

NASA has awarded $100,000 to further development of the project under the Innovative Advanced Concepts program.