An artist's concept of a space based vehicle using the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) to generate its thrust to maintain orbit without using a propellant. ProSEDS will obtain thrust as the current flowing through the tether experiences a drag force due to interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. Drag force is coupled mechanically to the stage via the tether, thus lowering the stage's orbital altitude.

The Air Force Delta II vehicle sits poised on Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Station, ready to carry the 19th NAVSTAR Global Positioning System Satellite into orbit. A secondary NASA experiment, the Small Expendable Deployer System (SEDS), will also be deployed.

This photograph shows two Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) engineers, Mark Vaccaro (left) and Ken Welzyn, testing electrodynamic tethers in the MSFC Tether Winding and Spark Testing Facility. For 4 years, MSFC and industry partners have been developing the Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System experiment, called ProSEDS. ProSEDS will test electrodynamic tether propulsion technology. Electrodynamic tethers are long, thin wires that collect electrical current when passing through a magnetic field. The tether works as a thruster as a magnetic field exerts a force on a current-carrying wire. Since electrodynamic tethers require no propellant, they could substantially reduce the weight of the spacecraft and provide a cost-effective method of reboosting spacecraft. The initial flight of ProSEDS is scheduled to fly aboard an Air Force Delta II rocket in the summer of 2002. In orbit, ProSEDS will deploy from a Delta II second stage. It will be a 3.1-mile (5 kilometer) long, ultrathin base-wire tether cornected with a 6.2-mile (10 kilometer) long non-conducting tether. This photograph shows Less Johnson, a scientist at MSFC, inspecting the nonconducting part of a tether as it exits a deployer similar to the one to be used in the ProSEDS experiment. The ProSEDS experiment is managed by the Space Transportation Directorate at MSFC.

NASA's Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System experiment (ProSEDS) will demonstrate the use of an electrodynamic tether, basically a long, thin wire, for propulsion. An electrodynamic tether uses the same principles as electric motors in toys, appliances and computer disk drives, and generators in automobiles and power plants. When electrical current is flowing through the tether, a magnetic field is produced that pushes against the magnetic field of the Earth. For ProSEDS, the current in the tether results by virtue of the voltage generated when the tether moves through the Earth's magnetic field at more than 17,000 mph. This approach can produce drag thrust generating useable power. Since electrodynamic tethers require no propellant, they could substantially reduce the weight of the spacecraft and provide a cost-effective method of reboosting spacecraft. The initial flight of ProSEDS is scheduled to fly aboard an Air Force Delta II rocket in the summer of 2002. In orbit, ProSEDS will deploy from a Delta II second stage. It will be a 3.1-mile (5 kilometer) long, ultrathin base-wire cornected with a 6.2-mile (10 kilometer) long nonconducting tether. This photograph shows Less Johnson, a scientist at MSFC inspecting the nonconducting part of a tether as it exits a deployer similar to the one to be used in the ProSEDS experiment. The ProSEDS experiment is managed by the Space Transportation Directorate at MSFC.

Pictured is an artist's concept of NASA's Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System experiment (ProSEDS). ProSEDS will demonstrate the use of an electrodynamic tether, basically a long, thin wire, for propulsion. An electrodynamic tether uses the same principles as electric motors in toys, appliances and computer disk drives, and generators in automobiles and power plants. When electrical current is flowing through the tether, a magnetic field is produced that pushes against the magnetic field of the Earth. For ProSEDS, the current in the tether results by virtue of the voltage generated when the tether moves through the Earth's magnetic field at more than 17,000 mph. This approach can produce drag thrust generating useable power. Since electrodynamic tethers require no propellant, they could substantially reduce the weight of the spacecraft and provide a cost-effective method of reboosting spacecraft. The initial flight of ProSEDS is scheduled to fly aboard an Air Force Delta II rocket in summer of 2002. In orbit, ProSEDS will deploy from a Delta II second stage. It will be a 3.1-mile (5 kilometer) long, ultrathin base-wire tether cornected with a 6.2-mile (10 kilometer) long nonconducting tether. The ProSEDS experiment is managed by the Space Transportation Directorate at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Small Expendable Deployer System (SEDS) is a tethered date collecting satellite and is intended to demonstrate a versatile and economical way of delivering smaller payloads to higher orbits or downward toward Earth's atmosphere. 19th Navstar Global Positioning System Satellite mission joined with previously launched satellites used for navigational purposes and geodite studies. These satellites are used commercially as well as by the military.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers prepare a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container for installation on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container is installed on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers prepare to install a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container is installed on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container is installed on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers prepare a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container for installation on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers prepare a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD, container for installation on the Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, spacecraft. P-PODS are auxiliary payloads launched aboard NASA expendable launch vehicles carrying up to three small CubeSats. The small cube-shaped satellites are part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, missions. The small payloads are designed and built by students from high school-level classes up to college and university students. JPSS is the first in a series of four next-generation environmental satellites in a collaborative program between the NOAA and NASA. Liftoff from Vandenberg's Space Launch Compex-2 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is scheduled for 1:47 a.m. PST (4:47 a.m. EST), on Nov. 14, 2017.

The solar panel of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's solar panel as seen by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. Roughly 6.5 by 17 inches (425 mm by 165 mm), the panel charges six lithium-ion batteries inside the helicopter. The small amount of dust on the panel may have accumulated above the helicopter during landing and fallen onto it during helicopter deployment. This dust has had no adverse impact on the helicopter's power. Solar cells in the array are optimized for the solar spectrum encountered at Mars, and the stored energy is used to operate heaters for the cold Martian nights as well as power the helicopter during flight operations. Power expended by the helicopter during an up-to-90-second flight is about 350 watts. The image is not white balanced; instead it is displayed in a preliminary calibrated version of a natural-color composite, approximately simulating the colors of the scene that we would see if we were there viewing it ourselves. Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24545