Tuesday 1 October 2024

NASA Invites Media to Preview its Museum Earth Information Center

A person stands in a dark room surrounded by images of green leaves and a large depiction of the Earth.
Space for Earth is an immersive experience that is part of the Earth Information Center.
Credit: NASA

Media is invited to preview and interview NASA leadership ahead of the opening of the Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History at 10 a.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 7.

The 2,000-square-foot exhibit includes a 32-foot-long, 12-foot-high video wall displaying Earth science data visualizations and videos, an interpretive panel showing Earth’s connected systems, information on our changing world, and an overview of how NASA and the Smithsonian study our home planet. Visitors also can explore Earth observing missions, changes in Earth’s landscape over time, and how climate is expected to change regionally through multiple interactive experiences.

The event will take place at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 1000 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Members of the media interested in attending should email Liz Vlock at: elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.

Participants will be available for media interviews starting at the following times:

  • 10 a.m.: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
  • 10 a.m.: Kirk Johnson, Sant director, Museum of Natural History
  • 10:30 a.m.: Karen St. Germain, division director, NASA Earth Sciences Division
  • 10:30 a.m.: Julie Robinson, deputy director, NASA Earth Sciences Division  

The Earth Information Center draws insights from across all NASA centers and its fellow partners – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and Federal Emergency Management Administration. It allows viewers to see how our home planet is changing and gives decision makers information to develop the tools they need to mitigate, adapt, and respond to climate change.

NASA’s Earth Information Center is a virtual and physical space designed to aid people to make informed decisions on Earth’s environment and climate. It provides easily accessible, readily usable, and scalable Earth information – enabling global understanding of our changing planet. 

The expansion of the physical Earth Information Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Museum makes it the second location in the Washington area. The first is located at NASA Headquarters in Washington at 300 E St., SW.

To learn more about the Earth Information Center visit:

https://earth.gov

-end-

Elizabeth Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov

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Last Updated
Sep 30, 2024


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NASA Seeks Innovators for Lunar Waste Competition 

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

By Savannah Bullard 

A new NASA competition, the LunaRecycle Challenge, is open and offering $3 million in prizes for innovations in recycling material waste on deep space missions. 

As NASA continues efforts toward long-duration human space travel, including building a sustained human presence on the Moon through its Artemis missions, the agency needs novel solutions for processing inorganic waste streams like food packaging, discarded clothing, and science experiment materials. While previous efforts focused on the reduction of trash mass and volume, this challenge will prioritize technologies for recycling waste into usable products needed for off-planet science and exploration activities.  

NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge will incentivize the design and development of energy-efficient, low-mass, and low-impact recycling solutions that address physical waste streams and improve the sustainability of longer-duration lunar missions. Through the power of open innovation, which draws on the public’s ingenuity and creativity to find solutions, NASA can restructure the agency’s approach to waste management, support the future of space travel, and revolutionize waste treatments on Earth, leading to greater sustainability on our home planet and beyond. 

“Operating sustainably is an important consideration for NASA as we make discoveries and conduct research both away from home and on Earth,” said Amy Kaminski, program executive for NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program. “With this challenge, we are seeking the public’s innovative approaches to waste management on the Moon and aim to take lessons learned back to Earth for the benefit of all.” 

NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge will offer two competition tracks: a Prototype Build track and a Digital Twin track. The Prototype Build Track focuses on designing and developing hardware components and systems for recycling one or more solid waste streams on the lunar surface. The Digital Twin Track focuses on designing a virtual replica of a complete system for recycling solid waste streams on the lunar surface and manufacturing end products. Offering a Digital Twin track further lowers the barrier of entry for global solvers to participate in NASA Centennial Challenges and contribute to agency missions and initiatives.  

Teams will have the opportunity to compete in either or both competition tracks, each of which will carry its own share of the prize purse. 

The LunaRecycle Challenge also will address some of the aerospace community’s top technical challenges. In July 2024, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate released a ranked list of 187 technology areas requiring further development to meet future exploration, science, and other mission needs. The results integrated inputs from NASA mission directorates and centers, industry organizations, government agencies, academia, and other interested individuals to help guide NASA’s space technology development and investments. This list and subsequent updates will help inform future Centennial Challenges.  

The three technological needs that LunaRecycle will address include logistics tracking, clothing, and trash management for habitation; in-space and on-surface manufacturing of parts and products; and in-space and on-surface manufacturing from recycled and reused materials. 

“I am pleased that NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge will contribute to solutions pertaining to technological needs within advanced manufacturing and habitats,” said Kim Krome,  acting program manager for agency’s Centennial Challenges, and challenge manager of LunaRecycle. “We are very excited to see what solutions our global competitors generate, and we are eager for this challenge to serve as a positive catalyst for bringing the agency, and humanity, closer to exploring worlds beyond our own.” 

NASA has contracted The University of Alabama to be the allied partner for the duration of the challenge. The university, based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will coordinate with former Centennial Challenge winner AI Spacefactory to facilitate the challenge and manage its competitors.  

To register as a participant in NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge, visit: lunarecyclechallenge.ua.edu. 

NASA’s LunaRecycle Challenge is led by the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida, with support from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The competition is a NASA’s Centennial Challenge, based at NASA Marshall. Centennial Challenges are part of NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.  

For more information on LunaRecycle, visit: 

LunaRecycle Challenge Website

Jasmine Hopkins 
Headquarters, Washington 
321-432-4624 
jasmine.s.hopkins@nasa.gov  

Lane Figueroa 
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 
256-544-0034 
lane.e.figueroa@nasa.gov   

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Last Updated
Sep 30, 2024
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Beth Ridgeway

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NASA Invites Media to Preview its Museum Earth Information Center

Space for Earth is an immersive experience that is part of the Earth Information Center. Credit: NASA Media is invited to preview...