MEDIA ADVISORY
In Case You Missed It: A Weekly Summary of Top Content from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Week of Aug. 29 - Sept. 2, 2016
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NASA's Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby
NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter Aug. 27. The time of closest approach with the gas-giant world was 8:44 a.m. when Juno, traveling at 130,000 mph, passed about 2,600 miles above Jupiter's swirling clouds. This flyby was the closest Juno will get to Jupiter during its prime mission.
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Specialized Transporters For SLS's Core Stage Arrive at Michoud
At NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, engineers took four self-propelled modular transporters, specially designed and built for NASA's Space Launch System, out for a test drive this week. The transporters will help move the rocket's core stage and test articles to various NASA centers for testing, assembly with other components and eventually launch.
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Game Changer: First DNA Sequenced in Space
For the first time, DNA was successfully sequenced in microgravity as part of the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment performed by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins this week aboard the International Space Station. The ability to sequence the DNA of living organisms in space opens a whole new world of scientific and medical possibilities.
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New Horizons Spies a Kuiper Belt Companion
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is doing some sightseeing along the way, as it speeds toward a New Year’s Day 2019 date with an ancient object in the distant region beyond Pluto known as 2014 MU69. New Horizons recently observed the dwarf planet Quaoar (“Kwa-war”), which is roughly half the size of Pluto.
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Record-Breaking Galaxy Cluster Discovered 11.1 Billion Light Years From Earth
A new record for the most distant galaxy cluster has been set using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. This galaxy cluster may have been caught right after birth -- a brief, but important stage of evolution never seen before. The galaxy cluster, CL J1001+0220, is located about 11.1 billion light years from Earth.
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NASA to Hold Final Sample Return Robot Competition
After five years of competition by more than 40 different teams from around the globe, NASA’s Sample Return Robot Challenge has reached its final stage. The top seven teams will compete for the $1.36 million prize purse on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Sept. 4-6.
For more information or to learn about other happenings at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, visit NASA Marshall. For past issues of the ICYMI newsletter, click here.
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