NASA Ticks Off its 2024 Achievements

NASA announced results of its Orion heat shield investigation and updated its timelines for Artemis II and III;

Teams delivered the core stage and launch vehicle stage adapter of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility  to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and began stacking the rocket’s booster segments;

Engineers carried out a series of tests of the mobile launcher and systems at NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B ahead of the test flight and added an emergency egress system to keep crew and other personnel at the launch pad safe in the case of an emergency;

NASA performed key integrated testing of the Orion spacecraft that will send four astronauts around the Moon and bring them home, including testing inside an altitude chamber simulating the vacuum conditions of deep space;

The crew and other teams performed key training activities to prepare for flight, including practicing recovery operations at sea, as well as launch countdown and mission simulations;

In February, the first Moon landing through the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative brought NASA science to the lunar surface on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander successfully capturing data that will help us better understand the Moon’s environment and improve landing precision and safety;

In August, NASA announced that a new set of NASA science experiments and technology demonstrations will arrive at the lunar South Pole in 2027 following the agency’s latest CLPS initiative delivery award;

To return valuable samples from Mars to Earth, NASA sought innovative designs and announced a new strategy review team to assess various design studies to reduce cost, risk, and complexity;

NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft celebrated 10 years of exploration of the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere;

After three years, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter ended its mission in January, with dozens more flights than planned;

In September, the NASA Space Communications and Navigation team awarded a contract to Intuitive Machines to support the agency’s lunar relay systems as part of the Near Space Network, operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center;

NASA identified an updated set of nine potential landing regions near the lunar South Pole for its Artemis III mission;

Capturing the current state of the Moon to Mars architecture, NASA released the second revision of its Architecture Definition Document;

NASA formalized two international agreements for key Artemis elements, including with the United Arab Emirates for the Gateway airlock module, and with Japan to provide a pressurised rover for the lunar surface;

Astronauts, scientists, and engineers took part in testing key technologies and evaluating hardware needed to work at the Moon, including simulating moonwalks in geologically Moon-like areas of Arizona, practiced integration between the crew and mission controllers, participated in human factors testing for Gateway, and evaluated the developmental hardware;

NASA worked collaboratively with SpaceX and Blue Origin on their human lunar landers for Artemis missions, exercising an option under existing contracts to develop cargo variants of their human landers;

In August, as part of its commitment to a robust, sustainable lunar exploration program for the benefit of all, NASA announced it issued a Request for Information to seek interest from American companies and institutions in conducting a mission using the agency’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) Moon rover;

The agency selected three companies to advance capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle that Artemis astronauts will use to travel around the lunar surface.

NASA completed a critical design review on the second mobile launcher, which will launch the more powerful Block 1B version of the SLS rocket;

Engineers at NASA Kennedy continued outfitting the Artemis III and IV Orion crew modules and received the European-built Orion service module for Artemis III; they also received several sections of the Artemis III and IV SLS core stages, and upgraded High Bay 2 in the Vehicle Assembly Building;

NASA completed its second RS-25 certification test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, setting the stage for production of new engines to help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond; and

The CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) 1 crew completed a 378-day mission in a ground-based Mars habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

After launching into space in February, NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite mission is successfully transmitting first-of-their-kind measurements of ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate;

Using the agency’s TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) instrument, NASA made available new near-real time data providing air pollution observations at unprecedented resolutions – down to the scale of individual neighbourhoods;

Launched in May and June, NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment) CubeSats started collecting data on the amount of heat in the form of far-infrared radiation that the Arctic and Antarctic environments emit to space;

NASA rolled out the Disaster Response Coordination System, a new resource that delivers up-to-date information on fires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme events to emergency managers; and

The agency partnered with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to open the Earth Information Centre exhibit.

NASA’s groundbreaking James Webb Space Telescope marked more than two years in space, transforming our view of the universe as designed, by studying the most distant galaxies ever observed, while raising exciting new questions about the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system;

As part of an asteroid sample exchange, NASA officially transferred to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) a portion of the asteroid Bennu sample collected by the agency’s OSIRIS-Rex (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) mission in a ceremony on August 22;

After surviving multiple challenges this year, NASA’s Voyager mission continues to collect data on the furthest reaches of our Sun’s influences;

NASA selected a new space telescope for development that will survey ultraviolet light across the entire sky, called UVEX (UltraViolet Explorer);

This year, all remaining major components were delivered to NASA Goddard to begin the integration phase for the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope;

NASA developed, tested, and launched the patch kit that astronauts will use to repair the agency’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) telescope on the International Space Station;

The agency continued preparing the SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission to launch by April 2025;

To manage the maturation of technologies necessary to develop the Habitable Worlds Observatory telescope, NASA established a project office at NASA Goddard;

NASA and partners declared that the Sun reached solar maximum in 2024, a period of heightened solar activity when space weather becomes more frequent;

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a joint mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA, discovered its 5,000th comet in March;

NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program provided low-cost access to space for scientific research, technology development, and educational missions. NASA launched 14 sounding rocket missions in 2024. Scientists announced findings from a sounding rocket launched in 2022 that confirmed the existence of a long-sought global electric field at Earth; and

The agency established a new class of astrophysics missions, called Astrophysics Probe Explorers, designed to fill a gap between NASA’s flagship and smaller-scale missions.

In March, NASA welcomed its newest class of Artemis Generation astronauts in a graduation ceremony. The agency also sought new astronaut candidates, and more 8,000 people applied;

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa returned to Earth at the conclusion of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission aboard the International Space Station. The three crew members, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, splashed down in March off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, completing a six-and-a-half-month mission contributing to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations;

In June, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely arrived at the space station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft following launch of their flight test. With Starliner’s arrival, it was the first time in station history three different spacecraft that carried crew to station were docked at the same time. Starliner returned uncrewed in September following a decision by NASA. Wilmore and Williams, now serving as part of the agency’s Crew-9 mission, will return to Earth in February 2025;

NASA astronaut Don Pettit, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, arrived at the orbital laboratory in September to begin a six-month mission;

Completing a six-month research mission in September, NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson returned to Earth with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft;

Concluding a nearly eight-month science mission, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission safely returned to Earth, splashing down on October 25 off Florida;

NASA and Axiom Space successfully completed the third private astronaut mission to the space station in February, following an 18-day mission, where the crew conducted 30 experiments, public outreach, and commercial activities in microgravity;

The agency announced SpaceX was selected to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, which will safely move the space station out of orbit and into a remote area of an ocean at the end of its operations;

NASA and SpaceX monitored operations as the company’s Dragon spacecraft performed its first demonstration of reboost capabilities for the space station;

NASA concluded the final mission of its Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment, or Saffire, putting a blazing end to an eight-year series of investigations looking at  fire’s behavior in space;

A robotic surgical tool aboard space station was successfully controlled remotely by surgeons on Earth. The Robotic Surgery Tech Demo tested the performance of a small robot to evaluate the effects of microgravity and time delays between space and ground;

The first successful metal 3D print was conducted aboard the space station, depositing a small s-curve in liquified stainless steel for the Metal 3D Printer investigation to test additive manufacturing of small metal parts in microgravity for equipment maintenance on future long-duration missions;

In 2024, 17 NASA Biological and Physical Science research payloads were delivered to the orbital laboratory, spanning quantum, plant biology, and physical sciences investigations; and

More than 825,000 photos of Earth were taken from the space station in 2024 so far, contributing to research tracking how our planet’s landscapes are changing over time. Expedition 71 produced more than 630,000 images, the most taken during a single mission. In total, more than 5.3 million photos have been taken from the space station, providing imagery for urban light studies, studies of lightning flashes, and 14 natural disaster events in 2024 alone.

Began testing the quiet supersonic X-59’s engine ahead of its first flight;

Made further progress in research areas of Quesst mission, including ground recording station testing and advancement and structural tests on the aircraft;

Publicly unveiled the X-59 in January, providing the first look at this unique aircraft;

Tested a wind-tunnel model of the X-66, an experimental aircraft designed to reduce the carbon footprint;

Began building the X-66 simulator that will allow pilots and engineers to run real-life scenarios in a safe environment;

Funded new studies looking at the future of sustainable aircraft for the 2050 timeframe and beyond;

Built a new simulator to study how passengers may experience air taxi rides. The results will help designers create new aircraft types with passenger comfort in mind;

Developed a computer software tool called OVERFLOW to predict aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. This tool is now being used by several air taxi manufacturers to test how propellers or wings perform;

In collaboration with Sikorsky and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), flew two helicopters autonomously using NASA-designed collision avoidance software;

Designed and flew a camera pod with sensors to help advance computer vision for autonomous aviation;

Launched a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics kit focused on Advanced Air Mobility so students can learn more about air taxis and drones;

Continued to reduce traffic and save fuel at major US airports as part of NASA’s to work to improve air travel and make it more sustainable;

Worked with partners to demonstrate a first-of-its-kind air traffic management concept for aircraft to safely operate at higher altitudes;

Advanced Hybrid-Electric technologies with GE Aerospace under the Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core project;

Conducted new ground and flight tests for the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, which works to create hybrid electric powertrains for regional and single-aisle aircraft, alongside GE Aerospace and magniX;

Collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration and police and fire departments to strategize on integrating public safety drones into the national airspace; and

Launched a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics kit focused on Advanced Air Mobility so students can learn more about air taxis and drones.

Deployed NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System in space, marking a successful test of its composite boom technology;

Performed record-breaking laser communications with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration by sending a laser signal from Earth to NASA’s Psyche spacecraft about 290 million miles away;

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System and Deep Space Optical Communications were named among TIME’s Inventions of 2024, along with the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft;

Supported 84 tests of technology payloads via 38 flights with six U.S. commercial flight providers through NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program;

Enabled the first NASA-supported researcher to fly with their payload aboard a commercial suborbital rocket;

Advanced critical capabilities for autonomous networks of small spacecraft with NASA’s Starling demonstration, the first satellite swarm to autonomously distribute information and operations data between spacecraft;

Demonstrated space-age fuel gauge technology, known as a Radio Frequency Mass Gauge, on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander, to develop technology to accurately measure spacecraft fuel levels;

Performed an in-space tank to tank transfer of cryogenic propellent (liquid oxygen) on the third flight test of SpaceX’s Starship;

Licensed a new 3-D printed superalloy, dubbed GRX-810, to four American companies to make stronger, more durable airplane and spacecraft parts;

Manufactured 3D-printed, liquid oxygen/hydrogen thrust chamber hardware as part of NASA’s Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology project, which earned the agency’s 2024 Invention of The Year award for its contributions to NASA and commercial industry’s deep space exploration goals;

Pioneered quantum discovery using the Cold Atom Lab, including producing the first dual-species Bose-Einstein Condensates in space, the first dual-species atom interferometers in space, and demonstrating the first ultra-cool quantum sensor for the first time in space;

Announced two new consortia to carry out ground-based research investigations and conduct activities for NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Space Biology Program, totaling USD5 million;

Awarded USD4.25 million across the finales of three major NASA Centennial Challenges, including Break the Ice, Watts on the Moon, and Deep Space Food to support NASA’s Artemis missions and future journeys into deep space; and

Launched a collaborative process to capture the aerospace community’s most pervasive technical challenges, resulting in a ranked list of 187 civil space shortfalls to help guide future technology development projects, investments, and technology roadmaps.

The space station crew were among the millions viewing the solar eclipse;

NASA collaborated with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Google, NCAA Women’s Final Four, Peanuts Worldwide, Microsoft, Sésamo, LEGO, Barbie, Major League Baseball, Third Rock Radio, Discovery Education, and others on eclipse-inspired products and social posts to support awareness of the eclipse and the importance of safe viewing; and

More than 50 student teams participated in NASA’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project, with some becoming the first to measure atmospheric gravity waves caused by eclipses.

NASA modified agreements for two funded commercial space station partners that are on track to develop low Earth orbit destinations for the agency and other customers;

A NASA-funded commercial space station, Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef, completed multiple testing milestones for its critical life support system as part of the agency’s efforts for new destinations in low Earth orbit;

The agency’s industry partners, through the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities initiative and Small Business Innovation Research Ignite initiative, completed safety milestones, successful flight tests, and major technological advancements;

As NASA opens access to space by working with private industry, the agency shared its medical expertise, human system integration knowledge, utilisation requirements, and commercial space food insight to aid in developing safe, reliable, innovative, and cost-effective space stations;

To address a rapidly changing space operating environment and ensure its preservation for generations to come, NASA released its integrated Space Sustainability Strategy in April;

The agency tested the Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane for the extreme environments of space at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility; and

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland streamed 4K video footage from an aircraft to the space station and back for the first time using optical, or laser, communications.

Awarded nearly USD45 million to 21 higher-education institutions to help build capacity for research, and announced the recipients of grants that will support scientific and technical research projects for more than 20 universities and organisations across the United States.

Planted a Moon Tree, a seedling that traveled around the Moon and back aboard the agency’s Artemis I mission in 2022, at the US Capitol in Washington. The event highlighted a partnership with the US Forest Service that invited organizations across the country to host the seedlings;

Partnered with Microsoft’s Minecraft to engage students in a game-based learning platform, where players can experience NASA’s discoveries with interactive modules on star formation, planets, and galaxy types, modeled using real James Webb Space Telescope images;

Collaborate with the US Department of Education to bring STEM to students during after-school hours under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which aims to reach thousands of students in more than 60 sites across 10 states;

Launched NASA Engages, a platform to connect and serve the public by providing agency experts to share their experiences working on agency missions and programs;

With more than 55,000 applications for NASA internships across the spring, summer and fall sessions, a new recruitment record, NASA helped students and early-career professionals make real contributions to space and science missions;

Expanded the agency’s program to help informal educational institutions like museums, science centers, libraries, and other community organizations bring STEM content to communities, resulting in 42 active awards across 26 states and Puerto Rico; and

Hosted the 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge, one of NASA’s longest-standing student challenges, with participation from more than 600 students and 72 teams from around the world.

NASA’s on-demand streaming service, NASA+, achieved four times the viewership of the agency’s traditional cable channel, marking a major milestone in its ongoing web modernization efforts. As part of the digital transformation, NASA said goodbye to NASA Television, its over-the-air broadcast, streamlining how it delivers the latest space, science, and technology news. NASA+ marked its first year of operation on September 23, and visitors have played 1,036,389 hours of programming;

On April 8, the day of the total solar eclipse, NASA’s websites attracted 32 million views, more than 15 times additional views than the average this year. On average, NASA websites receive 33.4 million views every month;

NASA social media accounts saw an increase of 4% in followers since 2023, from 391.2 million in 2023 to 406.8 million this year. On average, NASA accounts see close to 25 million engagements each month;

Notable live social media events in 2024 included the first-ever Reddit Ask Me Anything with the platform’s 23-million member Explain Like I’m Five community; the first X Spaces conversation from space; and NASA’s first Instagram Live of a launch, which contributed 410,000 of the 6.6 million views of the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test launch;

NASA Twitch launched custom emotes, issued channel points for the first time, and collaborated with an external Twitch creator, a how-to conversation with astrophotographers and NASA experts about photographing the Moon.NASA aired live broadcasts for 14 mission launches in 2024. The agency’s official broadcast of the 2024 total solar eclipse and its telescope feed are the top two most-watched livestreams this year on NASA’s YouTube;

The agency’s YouTube livestreams in 2024 surpassed 84.7 million total views;

NASA broadcasts often were enhanced by the presence of well-known athletes, artists, and cultural figures. The solar eclipse broadcast alone featured musician Lance Bass, actor Scarlett Johannson, NFL quarterback Josh Dobbs, and Snoopy;

The agency’s podcasts surpassed 9.7 million all-time plays on Apple Podcasts and Spotify;

The NASA app was installed more than 2.1 million times in 2024;

The number of subscribers to NASA’s flagship and Spanish newsletters total more than 5 million;

NASA celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Hidden Figures Way street renaming. The program honored the legacy of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine M. Darden, and others who were featured in Margot Shetterly’s book and subsequent movie; and

The agency signed Space Act agreements with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation to increase engagement and equity for underrepresented students pursuing STEM fields and reduce barriers to agency activities and opportunities;

Launched its second season of the Spanish-language podcast Universo curioso de la NASA;

More than doubled the number of yearly posts to its science-focused website in Spanish, Ciencia de la NASA, and grew the website’s traffic by five-fold and

Produced live broadcasts for the 2024 total solar eclipse and for the launch of the Europa Clipper mission, which reached a combined audience of more than 5 million viewers around the world;

Published a video about how NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) cooperate to train astronauts;

Released an astrobiology graphic novel and the agency’s economic impact yearly report in Spanish, among other outreach materials;

Relaunched the NASA Art Program with two space-themed murals in New York’s Hudson Square neighborhood in Manhattan;

A DC-8 Airborne Science Laboratory Workshop documented and celebrated the important scientific work conducted aboard NASA’s legendary DC-8 and captured lessons of the past for current and future operators;

The Deep Space Network beamed a Missy Elliott song to space on July 12;

NASA partnered with Crayola Education to develop content for Crayola’s annual Creativity Week held in January, which reached more than 6 million kids from 100 countries;

NASA’s Ames Research Center hosted social media creators in space, science, and engineering for a behind-the-scenes tour of the center’s world-class facilities;

Engaging largely untapped NASA audiences of more than 155,000 in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota, NASA’s Glenn launched NASA in the Midwest, an integrated approach to bring awareness to the agency’s connections to the region to large-scale festivals and surrounding community institutions;

Reaching 500,000 in-person attendees, NASA Stennis supported the agency’s return to the ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans;

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia developed a dance engagement program in partnership with the Eastern Shore Ballet Theatre, introducing new audiences to the agency while blending arts and science;

NASA participated in more than 3,700 events planned with an estimated reach of more than 17 million worldwide. This was accomplished through in-person, hybrid, and virtual outreach activities and events; and