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Preparing a small satellite\h
to conduct some big science …

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An update on our upcoming mission\h
to a metal-rich asteroid …

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And a new director for the International Space\h\h

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Station … a few of the stories to\h
tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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Our Ames Research Center in California is in\h
the final stages of preflight preparations\h\h

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of BioSentinel. The CubeSat is one of several\h
secondary payloads targeted for launch on the\h\h

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uncrewed Artemis I mission to the Moon with our\h
Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.\h\h

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BioSentinel will eventually fly past\h
the Moon and into orbit around the Sun,\h\h

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to conduct a six-month investigation on the\h
effects of deep-space radiation on yeast, a living\h\h

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organism. This will be the first long-duration\h
biology experiment in deep-space and could\h\h

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help us better understand the radiation risks to\h
humans during long-duration deep-space missions.

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The Solar Electric Propulsion or (SEP) Chassis\h
for our Psyche spacecraft has been delivered to\h\h

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our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern\h
California, where the mission’s assembly,\h\h

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test, and launch operations phase is underway.\h
The SEP Chassis, built by Maxar Technologies,\h\h

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is the main body of the spacecraft that includes\h
the six-and-a-half-foot-wide high-gain antenna,\h\h

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and the frame that will hold the mission’s science\h
instruments. Targeted for launch in August 2022,\h\h

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the Psyche mission will explore a\h
metal-rich asteroid of the same name,\h\h

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located in the main asteroid belt between\h
Mars and Jupiter. Studying the asteroid,\h\h

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which may be the core of an early planet, could\h
provide valuable insight into how Earth and\h\h

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other planets formed. More information about\h
the mission is available at: nasa.gov/psyche.

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NASA has named Robyn Gatens as director of the\h
International Space Station for the agency.\h\h

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She was appointed to the position after serving as\h
the acting space station director for about seven\h\h

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months. Gatens has 35 years of experience\h
at NASA in both the space station program\h\h

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and in development and management of the life\h
support systems for human spaceflight missions.\h\h

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As space station director, she\h
will continue to lead strategy,\h\h

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policy, integration, and stakeholder engagement\h
for the space station program at the agency level,\h\h

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while working closely with officials\h
at our Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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According to NASA-supported research, the 2021\h
Arctic wintertime sea ice extent reached on March\h\h

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21 tied 2007 as the seventh-smallest extent\h
of winter sea ice in the satellite record.\h\h

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This year’s maximum extent is\h
340,000 square miles below the\h\h

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1981 to 2010 average maximum. For perspective,\h\h

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that is equivalent to a missing area of ice larger\h
than the states of Texas and Florida combined.