NASA Reaches New Heights in 2015

Estimated reading time: 17 minutes

In March, the four Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft were launched and positioned in Earth’s orbit to study magnetic reconnection, the interaction between our sun and Earth’s magnetic field that can disrupt modern technological systems such as communications networks, GPS navigation, and electrical power grids.  

NASA’s journey to Mars was advanced in 2015 by valuable science findings from current missions traversing and orbiting the Red Planet. In September, NASA announced its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provided the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life to the cold, arid planet Mars is today. MAVEN findings also showed how space weather near Mars affected its potential to support life.

The Opportunity and Curiosity rovers continued to explore the surface of the Red Planet this year, with data from Curiosity showing signs of a form of nitrogen -- further evidence that conditions on ancient Mars may have been able to support life

Development of the core capabilities required to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s continued this year with significant progress on NASA’s Orion crewed spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Asteroid Redirect Mission, and revitalized space launch complex at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And in October, NASA held its first workshop to brainstorm with the science community to identify the best Martian landing sites for astronauts to carry out scientific exploration.

In 2015, the agency moved ahead toward the first integrated Orion and SLS flight test, designated Exploration Mission 1. In a report released in October, NASA’s Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration, the agency provided a detailed outline of its plan to send the first humans to the Red Planet.

Building on the success of Orion’s first flight test in 2014, agency officials completed their rigorous technical and programmatic review of Orion to establish NASA’s commitment to the program’s technical, cost and schedule baseline.

In March, Orion’s Launch Abort System (LAS) was tested to prove it can survive the intense temperatures, pressures, noise and vibrations experienced during a launch emergency and get the crew to safety. The spacecraft’s heat shield arrived in June at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where it will be readied for water-impact tests in 2016.

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