Latest news with #GoddardSpaceFlightCenter
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA continues building next-gen Roman Space Telescope despite budget worries
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. NASA engineers have successfully completed testing on one half of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — a key step in making sure this future observatory will perform as expected once it reaches space. "This milestone tees us up to attach the flight solar array sun shield to the outer barrel assembly, and deployable aperture cover, which we'll begin this month," said Jack Marshall, who leads integration and testing for these Roman Space Telescope elements at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Then we'll complete remaining environmental tests for the flight assembly before moving on to connect Roman's two major assemblies and run the full observatory through testing, and then we'll be ready to launch!" he continued. Launch is expected to occur sometime in early 2027. That timeline, however, could still be up in the air as the White House plans to slash NASA's budget in 2026. The drastic 24% cut — the largest in NASA's history — would affect major projects like the Gateway moon-orbiting space station and Mars sample return, among others. Previously released "passback documents," which also describe possible White House fiscal year budget scenarios, suggested funding will be given for the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope but not other telescopes. However, the agency is still awaiting a finalized budget. For now, engineers are continuing their work on Roman. Back in January, before thermal testing could begin, engineers attached the telescope's visor-like sunshade called the "deployable aperture cover" to the telescope's outer barrel assembly, which will eventually house its powerful instruments. By March, they'd also added a set of test solar panels. In April, this entire setup was moved into the Space Environment Simulator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland — a giant chamber that mimics the harsh hot-and-cold temperatures Roman will face in space. Of note, those aforementioned passback documents had reportedly suggested the White House's possible cuts to NASA funding could see Goddard Space Flight Center shut down entirely. Related Stories: — NASA installs 'bulletproof' sunshade on powerful Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (photos) — Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back' — Experts alarmed as White House proposes 'largest single-year cut to NASA in American history' "The test verifies the instruments will remain at stable operating temperatures even while the sun bakes one side of the observatory and the other is exposed to freezing conditions — all in a vacuum, where heat doesn't flow as readily as it does through air," said Jeremy Perkins, an astrophysicist serving as Roman's observatory integration and test scientist at NASA Goddard. Once Roman is out in orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, there's no easy way to send astronauts to fix it. That's why NASA engineers work tirelessly to make sure everything deploys and operates flawlessly. No second chances. Technicians are gearing up to connect Roman's two main sections this November. Once joined, the telescope will officially become a fully assembled observatory by the end of the year. After final testing is complete, Roman will be packed up and shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin launch preparations in summer 2026. NASA scientists say the mission remains on schedule, though they are working hard toward the possibility of an even earlier liftoff as soon as fall 2026.
The Independent
14-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Something is moving under the surface of Venus
Mysterious features on the surface of Venus might suggest that there is activity under its surface, scientists have suggested. Almost circular features on the surface might suggest that it has active tectonics, according to new research. Though the findings are new, the data used to discover them are actually more than 30 years old, originally found by Nasa 's Magellan mission. The behaviour is similar to the tectonic plates found on Earth, which are huge sections of crust that move on top of a viscous interior and are constantly changing the surface. Venus doesn't have tectonic plates, but researchers suggest that it is nonetheless being changed by molten material that is beneath the surface. To understand the deformations in the surface, researchers looked at coronae that are found on Venus. They can be anywhere from dozens to hundreds of miles across, there are hundreds of them on the planet, and they are thought to be formed when material rises from the planet's mantle and pushes against the crust above. The findings not only shed light on the nearby planet but might also tell us about the history of Earth. 'Coronae are not found on Earth today; however, they may have existed when our planet was young and before plate tectonics had been established,' said the study's lead author, Gael Cascioli, assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 'By combining gravity and topography data, this research has provided a new and important insight into the possible subsurface processes currently shaping the surface of Venus.' The data was gathered by the Magellan mission, which remains the best data on the gravity and topography of Venus despite having orbited the planet in the 1990s. That data includes details on the coronae, but at the time it was taken the cause of them remained mysterious. Researchers have proposed a number of explanations for them. But the new research involved creating detailed models that looked at what would happen if the coronae were formed by plumes from underneath – and then compared those simulations with the real data from the planet. They appeared to match up. Researchers found that of the 75 coronae in the study, 52 of them appeared to have floating mantle material underneath that is probably affecting the surface. Scientists hope that the Magellan data could soon be joined by Nasa's VERITAS mission, which will launch no earlier than 2031 and will provide new detail on the planet's gravity and other details. That could not only help understand those coronae but its geology more generally.
