Can You Spot The Lunar Module In The Distance? [Apollo 17, Station 6 - North Massif]

Lockheed Martin engineers assemble Orion’s crew module at NASA Kennedy Space Center Operations and Checkout building. Orion will travel 450,000 km away from Earth on Exploration Mission-1.

“Go inside and listen to your body, because your body will never lie to you. Your mind will play tricks, but the way you feel in your heart, in your guts, is the truth.”

— Don Miguel Ruiz

Our Spacecraft Have Discovered a New Magnetic Process in Space

Just as gravity is one key to how things move on Earth, a process called magnetic reconnection is key to how electrically-charged particles speed through space. Now, our Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, or MMS, has discovered magnetic reconnection – a process by which magnetic field lines explosively reconfigure – occurring in a new and surprising way near Earth.

Invisible to the eye, a vast network of magnetic energy and particles surround our planet — a dynamic system that influences our satellites and technology. The more we understand the way those particles move, the more we can protect our spacecraft and astronauts both near Earth and as we explore deeper into the solar system.

Earth’s magnetic field creates a protective bubble that shields us from highly energetic particles that stream in both from the Sun and interstellar space. As this solar wind bathes our planet, Earth’s magnetic field lines get stretched. Like elastic bands, they eventually release energy by snapping and flinging particles in their path to supersonic speeds.

That burst of energy is generated by magnetic reconnection. It’s pervasive throughout the universe — it happens on the Sun, in the space near Earth and even near black holes.

Scientists have observed this phenomenon many times in Earth’s vast magnetic environment, the magnetosphere. Now, a new study of data from our MMS mission caught the process occurring in a new and unexpected region of near-Earth space. For the first time, magnetic reconnection was seen in the magnetosheath — the boundary between our magnetosphere and the solar wind that flows throughout the solar system and one of the most turbulent regions in near-Earth space.

The four identical MMS spacecraft — flying through this region in a tight pyramid formation — saw the event in 3D. The arrows in the data visualization below show the hundreds of observations MMS took to measure the changes in particle motion and the magnetic field.

The data show that this event is unlike the magnetic reconnection we’ve observed before. If we think of these magnetic field lines as elastic bands, the ones in this region are much smaller and stretchier than elsewhere in near-Earth space — meaning that this process accelerates particles 40 times faster than typical magnetic reconnection near Earth. In short, MMS spotted a completely new magnetic process that is much faster than what we’ve seen before.

What’s more, this observation holds clues to what’s happening at smaller spatial scales, where turbulence takes over the process of mixing and accelerating particles. Turbulence in space moves in random ways and creates vortices, much like when you mix milk into coffee. The process by which turbulence energizes particles in space is still a big area of research, and linking this new discovery to turbulence research may give insights into how magnetic energy powers particle jets in space.

Keep up with the latest discoveries from the MMS mission: @NASASun on Twitter and Facebook.com/NASASunScience.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com. 

7 Self-Compassion Stress Relievers

1. Start the morning with a time of silence so that you feel calm, and are grounded for the day.

2. Set good intentions for yourself. Make sure your automatic thoughts are positive and healthy.

3. Focus on your breathing to relieve anxiety, and create a sense of being strong and in control.

4. Stretch to release any tightness or tension – so you don’t keep carrying the stresses of the day.

5. Set small, realistic and manageable tasks so you don’t start to panic, and feel overwhelmed.

6. Keep your focus on right now – don’t worry about later. You have you need to live this moment fruitfully.

7. Before you go to bed, think of 3 things that went right – and end the day with gratitude – then rest, and get some sleep.

Astronaut Journal Entry - The Last Week

Currently, six humans are living and working on the International Space Station, which orbits 250 miles above our planet at 17,500mph. Below you will find a real journal entry, written in space, by NASA astronaut Scott Tingle.

To read more entires from this series, visit our Space Blogs on Tumblr.

I can’t believe that Expedition 55 is already over. Today is Sunday, and we will depart the International Space Station (ISS) next Sunday morning (June 3). 

168 days in space. 

There have been many challenging moments, but even more positive highlights of our time on ISS. The new crew from the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft (Oleg Artymyev, Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold) joined Norishige Kanai (Nemo), Anton Shkaplerov and I last March. Since then, we have completed two spacewalks, captured and released the SpaceX Dragon-14 cargo craft, captured the Cygnus OA-9 cargo craft and completed a myriad of maintenance and science activities. 

The team on the ground controlling, monitoring, supporting and planning has been amazing. It is always great to work with them, and especially during the moments where the equipment, tools, procedures or crew need help. It is incredible to see how much a good team can accomplish when methodically placing one foot in front of the other. 

I have been lucky in that the first crew (Mark Vande Hei, Joe Acaba and Alexander Misurkin (Sasha)) and the second crew (Drew, Ricky and Oleg) were all amazing to work with. I do believe the planets aligned for my mission onboard ISS. 

Drew and Ricky have been friends forever, and listening to them nip at each other provided a ton of great humor for the ground and for us. Their one-liners to each other reminded me of several scenes from the movie Space Cowboys. 

This a great example that happened as I was writing this log entry:    

Ricky:  Hey Maker, is this your smoothie?   

Maker:  No.  

Ricky:  It must be Drew’s.

 Drew:  Hey Ricky, don’t drink my smoothie.

Ricky:  What smoothie? This one has my name on it (as he writes his name on it).

 Drew:  Okay, Grandpa Underpants, hands off my smoothie.

Ricky:  Okay, Feustelnaut – we have rules around here, so this is my smoothie now!

All:  Much laughing. (To quote my kids: “LOL!”)

One the hardest things to do in space is to maintain positive control of individual items such as tools, spare parts, fasteners, etc. We try very hard not to lose things, but even with all of the attention and positive control, items can still float away and disappear. 

We generally hold items in a crew transfer bag (CTB). Inside the CTB are many items for the system that it supports. When the CTB is opened, the items are free floating inside the bag and tend to escape. It is very difficult to maintain control of the items – especially if they are small, do not have Velcro, or when the daily schedule is so tight that we are rushing to stay on time. We always try to close the CTB’s and Ziploc bags after removing or replacing each item to maintain positive control, but this takes much more time to do for individual items, and if the timeline is tight, we absorb more risk by rushing. 

The same applies for tools, which we usually keep in a Ziploc bag while working on individual systems and tasks. Last month, I was installing a new low temperature cooling loop pump that had failed a month or two earlier. I gathered the needed tools into my modified (with Velcro) Ziploc bag as I always do and floated over to the work area. When I got there, one of the tools that I had gathered was missing. I looked for 30 minutes, and could not find it. Lost items are very hard to find because the items that escape are usually barely moving and blend in with the environment very quickly. A lost item could be right in front of us and we would never see it. 

Our crew, after learning these lessons, decided that when anyone loses something, we would tell the other crew members what we had lost with a general location. This has had a huge impact on finding items. If a different crew member can help within the first minutes of losing an item, the new crew member has an excellent chance of finding the item. We have proven this technique several times during the expedition – and Nemo was the very best at quickly finding lost items. But, in my case, we still could not find the missing tool. Our amazing ground team understood and vectored me to a replacement tool and I finished the job. I spent the next 3 weeks watching, looking and never forgetting about the lost tool. Then, one day last week, Oleg came to the lab and handed us a tool he had found in his Soyuz spacecraft, way on the aft side of the ISS. Amazing. We finally found the tool and I was happy again. This was a lucky ending. ISS has many corners, crevices and hard-to-see areas where missing items could hide and never be found.

We captured a Cygnus cargo craft last Thursday. I was very impressed with the entire team. Our specialists and training professionals in Mission Control did a great job preparing the necessary procedures and making sure we were proficient and ready to conduct operations. The robotic arm is a wonderful system that we could not operate ISS without. Being in space, however, it has some very unique handling qualities. If you think about a spring-mass-damper system just as you did during physics or control theory class, and then remove the damper, you will see a system that is very subject to slow rate oscillations. 

In test pilot terms, damping ratio is very low and the latency is well over a half of a second. Also in test pilot terms – this is a pilot-induced oscillations (PIO) generator. These characteristics require crew to “fly” the robotic arm using open-loop techniques, which requires a huge amount of patience. Test pilots are sometimes not very patient, but understanding the system and practicing with the incredible simulators that our ground team built and maintain help keep our proficiency as high as possible. The capture went flawlessly, and I was very impressed with the professionalism across the board – crew, flight controllers and training professionals – what a great job!

Drew, Ricky and I got to play guitar a few times while on ISS. This was fun! Drew connected pickups to the acoustic guitars and then connected the pickups to our tablets for amplification. I’ve never heard an acoustic guitar sound like an electric guitar amped up for heavy metal before. We had a great jam on the song “Gloria”, and a couple others. Rock on!

Last night we had our last movie night. The entire crew gathered in Node 2 and watched Avengers Infinity Wars on the big screen. We enjoy each other’s company, as we did during Expedition 54, and this was a welcome break from the daily grind of trying to complete the required stowage, maintenance and science activities while preparing for departure.

Our last full weekend here on ISS. I gave myself a haircut. We usually clean our spaces each weekend to make sure we can maintain a decent level of organization, efficiency and morale. This weekend is no different, and it is time for me to vacuum out all of our filters and vents. You’d be amazed at what we find!

The top 5 things I will miss when I am no longer in space:

The incredible team that supports ISS operations from our control centers

The camaraderie onboard ISS

The breathtaking view of the Earth, Moon, Sun and Stars

Floating/flying from location to location with very little effort

Operations in the extreme environment of space

Find more ‘Captain’s Log’ entries HERE.

Follow NASA astronaut Scott Tingle on Instagram and Twitter.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.  

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

— John Steinbeck

If you struggle with anxiety, overwhelm, or just plain feeling like a failure, I have a mantra for you that’s been really helping me out lately:

Just show up.

I used to skip class because the whole thing was so overwhelming: I had to get dressed in something clean even though I never had the energy to do laundry, walk to school, sit in class for up to three hours, plus pay attention, take notes, and participate in discussion. In reality, I was being a perfectionist, and life would have been a lot easier for me if I had Just Shown Up. By staying home because of my depression and anxiety, I wasn’t giving myself the chance to do any of that. I was such a perfectionist that being a “bad” or average student was unthinkable, so I stopped being a student at all.

If you’re having trouble getting something done, Just Show Up. You don’t have to be employee of the month. You don’t have to be valedictorian. Just Show Up.

Why I nearly failed my first year of college/university - and what to do instead

Hey everyone. I haven’t written a studyblr post in ages but I had the idea for this post in the car and I thought it couldn’t hurt to share it. As some of you may know, I graduated from uni last year and I’m going to start my Masters next year! But, a couple of years ago, I was failing my first year of university and things were dire. So I thought I’d write about the reasons I ended up in that situation, and how to avoid it.

1) I couldn’t make it in time for my 8 a.m. calculus class. 

I commuted every day to university with my sisters and some of my cousins. Which meant that - every morning - somebody was running late and the earliest I’d get to class was often a good fifteen minutes in. Which was often the most important part of the lesson, and I’d struggle to find a seat at all (thanks to the commerce kids attending the science calc class -____-). This ended up being so demoralising I sometimes didn’t even bother attending the class or watching the lecture recordings because I was so far behind.

What to do instead: if you miss a class, watch the lecture recording on the same day. If there’s no lecture recording, find out what topics were covered and self-study from the textbook on the same day.

2) I didn’t know how to catch up on work.

I was one of those annoying students in high school. I’d go to school about three-four days a week (thankfully my mom was very lenient) and still keep up with all my classes with barely any effort. So when I got to university and missing a class meant that I missed a whole lot of work, I had no clue how to catch up. I didn’t know how to check the syllabus for the topics I needed to study, how to ask my friends what we did or how to find the material in the textbook or online notes. I had all the resources but I didn’t know how to use them.

What to do instead: learn how to study. The studyblr community has great advice on this! You can also ask your friends for help, or even other students who are a year or two ahead of you!

3) I didn’t do my homework properly.

The biggest trap at university is homework that you’re assigned but won’t be graded on. For calculus and maths-related courses in particular. Because you don’t have to hand anything in…it’s super easy to just not do the work. I spend all our tutorial classes chatting to my friends and not even asking for help - because I didn’t do the homework in the first place. It meant that I didn’t get any practice at using calculus until I crammed for my first test and was promptly handed back at 23% (yes…23%). My grades only really improved once I started doing the homework problems we were assigned. For my physics class, where our homework problems were graded so I actually worked on them every week -  I passed without a problem (though my grades were just average)

4) My mindset was all wrong.

This is something that I’m still working on. In high school, my natural “intelligence” got me straight As with zero effort. But at university, that “natural intelligence” wasn’t enough and I was failing HARD. I thought there was something wrong with me. That I somehow wasn’t intelligent at all and that’s why I was failing - because I wasn’t smart enough. I can now confidently say that I was completely wrong. I was failing because I wasn’t doing my work (see Step 3). It wasn’t until I overcame this mindset (known as a fixed mindset) did I start improving (around the time I actually started doing my homework). Natural intelligence can only take you so far. Eventually, you need to do the work. So don’t pay attention to anyone else who seems to be just breezing through university without effort - they’re either cheating or working hard when you don’t see them. 

What to do instead: research the “growth mindset”. If you have time, the Coursera course “Learning How to Learn”, as well as the ethos of Khan Academy, concentrate on developing a growth mindset.

Also: Do the work. 

5) I didn’t know where to study.

Finding *your* study spot is something that really takes time. When I tried to study at first, I couldn’t settle on a good spot. I’d try to find somewhere I could hang out with my friends at the same time (bad idea) or I’d go to parts of the main library that were dull and uninspiring. At home, I could do some work, but I also got distracted easily. I only really found my ideal study spot in my 2nd year of uni - a small, quiet, botany library with ancient-but-beautiful books, natural light, overlooking the street without being distracting and most importantly fairly secret and quiet. I could study undisturbed there and the surroundings helped me feel calm and comfortable.

What to do instead: ask around for good study spots and try them out. Older students especially! They know all the good spots because they’ve been around for a while! 

I hope you found this post helpful! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an ask or a message. If you’d like to see more of my postgrad life, please give me a follow. I also have a bookstagram account where I occassionally share some of my planning and artwork as well.

Happy studying

xx Munira