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Testing our mega Moon rocket and ground
systems ...

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Preparing the James
Webb Space Telescope for science ...

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And testing an instrument for future X-59
research …

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a few of the stories
to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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From April 12-14,
NASA conducted a modified wet

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dress rehearsal for the agency’s Space
Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft

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on Launch Pad 39B
at our Kennedy Space Center in Florida

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ahead of the uncrewed Artemis
I Moon mission.

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The multi-day wet dress rehearsal
focused on loading fuel into the rocket’s

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core stage tanks,
refining countdown procedures,

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and validating critical models
and software interfaces.

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In addition to the two recent test runs
for wet dress rehearsal,

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this modified test allowed teams
to practice operations critical

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to launch success ahead of the Artemis
I mission.

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On April 7, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI)
aboard the James Webb Space Telescope

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reached a cooling milestone
as it prepares for science this summer.

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With the assistance of a cryocooler,
the instrument reached its final operating

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temperature of less than 7 kelvins

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(minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit),

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that’s just a few degrees above the lowest
temperature matter can reach.

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Webb’s four science instruments,
including MIRI, initially cooled off

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in the shade

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of the tennis-court-size sunshield,
but making the final temperature drop

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is essential for the observatory’s
only mid-infrared instrument

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that will play a key role in understanding
the origins of stars and planets.

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NASA conducted a series of flight tests
at our Armstrong Flight

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Research Center
in California, to evaluate improvements

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made to a shock-sensing probe
designed to measure the unique shock waves

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that our quiet supersonic X-59
aircraft will generate during flight.

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The probe was mounted
on the nose of a NASA F-15 research

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aircraft to measure shock waves from a NASA F-18,

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using flight techniques
that will test the X-59's shockwaves

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during the future acoustic validation
phase of quiet supersonic flight.

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

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has determined the size of the largest icy
comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers.

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The estimated diameter of behemoth comet

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C/2014
UN271 is approximately 80 miles across,

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making it larger than the state of Rhode
Island!

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Using a series of five Hubble images
taken of the comet in January 2022

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combined with a computer model
of the surrounding dusty coma,

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scientists revealed a massive,
but measurable, starlike nucleus

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that is about 50 times larger than what’s
found at the heart of most

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known comets.

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On Feb. 14, NASA’s
Lucy spacecraft obtained a series

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of calibration images
with its four visible-light cameras.

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While the first test images
were taken shortly after launch,

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the February tests
were much more extensive.

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Using its Instrument Pointing Platform,
Lucy pointed at 11 different star fields

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to test camera
performance and sensitivity,

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as well as the spacecraft’s ability to
point accurately in different directions.

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Lucy, which launched in October 2021,
is the first space mission set to explore

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a diverse population of small bodies
known as the Trojan asteroids.

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That’s what’s up this week @NASA …