NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.
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As NASA scientists study the returned fragments of asteroid Bennu, the team that helped navigate the mission on its journey refines their technology for potential use in future robotic and crewed missions. The optical navigation team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, served as a backup navigation resource for the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission to near-Earth asteroid Bennu. They double-checked the primary navigation team’s work and proved the viability of navigation by visual cues. The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly afte…
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NASA/JPL-Caltech An engineer prepares a small rover for testing in a thermal vacuum chamber on Oct. 24, 2023, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. This rover is part of the agency’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration that’s headed to the Moon as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. CADRE is designed to demonstrate that multiple robots can cooperate and explore together autonomously – without direct input from human mission controllers. Learn more about these miniature rovers. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech View the full article
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5 Min Read NASA’s First Two-way End-to-End Laser Communications System NASA's ILLUMA-T payload communicating with LCRD over laser signals. Credits: NASA/Dave Ryan NASA is demonstrating laser communications on multiple missions – showcasing the benefits infrared light can have for science and exploration missions transmitting terabytes of important data. The International Space Station is getting a “flashy” technology demonstration this November. The ILLUMA-T (Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration L…
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3 Min Read NASA’s Scientists and Volunteers Tackle the October 14 Solar Eclipse In this image captured during the October 14 annular solar eclipse we can see that the disk of the Sun was almost totally blocked by the smaller dark Moon. Between the horns of the crescent is a Baily’s Bead, a spot of sunlight peeking through a valley on the Moon’s apparent edge. Credits: Clinton Lewis, West Kentucky University Did you see October 14th’s solar eclipse? Most of the time we can easily forget that we are on a planet spinning and orbiting in space with other celestial bodies. Watching the Moon move across the face of the Sun re…
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3 min read New Video Highlights Accessibility and Inclusion at NASA To promote accessibility and inclusion, NASA’s Mission Support Directorate (MSD) released a video in October 2023 for National Disability Employment Awareness Month. NASA’s mission to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all is made possible through the contributions of its diverse workforce, including employees with disabilities. To promote accessibility and inclusion, NASA’s Mission Support Directorate (MSD) released a video in October 2023 for National Disability Employment Awareness Month. MSD fuels NASA’s Mission Support community, which provides the essential ser…
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Webb’s study of the second-brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen reveals tellurium. A team of scientists has used multiple space and ground-based telescopes, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, to observe an exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst, GRB 230307A, and identify the neutron star merger that generated an explosion that created the burst. Webb also helped scientists detect the chemical element tellurium in the explosion’s aftermath. Image: Gamma-Ray Burst 230307A This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument highlig…
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3 min read NASA Retires UHF SmallSat Tracking Site Ops at Wallops On Sept. 30, 2023, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility marked the formal conclusion of the Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Small Satellite (SmallSat) Tracking Operations in Wallops Island, Virginia, placing its workhorse, 60-plus-year-old, 18-meter antenna system in low-level maintenance status. NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility UHF operators pose with the 60-plus-year-old antenna at tracking site. From left: Magnus Einarsson, Frank Schaefer, Tim Parks (site lead), Tom Davenport, and Ronnie Thomas. Not pictured: Matt Schneider (TM supervisor), Stephanie Dennis (scheduler), and the numerous operators an…
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Sea turtle hatchlings emerge from their eggs at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA Humans aren’t the only living creatures using NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as their launchpad to the future. This year, a record number of sea turtle hatchlings got their start in nests built on the undisturbed beaches of the Florida spaceport. Biologists counted 13,935 sea turtle nests along Kennedy’s shoreline during the 2023 nesting season, 639 more nests than 2022 and the most found on center in a single year since record-keeping began in 1984. All of those sea turtle nests belong to species identified by the U.S. National Park Service as endangered or threatened, including the g…
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On Oct. 24, 1998, NASA launched the Deep Space 1 spacecraft. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, Deep Space 1 served as a testbed for 12 new technologies, including solar electric, also known as ion propulsion, for use in future deep space and interplanetary missions. The spacecraft, the first in NASA’s New Millennium program, flew by asteroid Braille and comet Borrelly, returning images and scientific data about the two small bodies. The ion propulsion engine that Deep Space 1 successfully demonstrated allowed the Dawn spacecraft to explore the protoplanet Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres using that technology. The Psyche spacecraft curre…
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5 min read How NASA Is Protecting Europa Clipper From Space Radiation Engineers and technicians are seen closing the vault of NASA’s Europa Clipper in the main clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL on Oct. 7. The vault will protect the electronics of the spacecraft as it orbits Jupiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech To explore the mysterious ice-encrusted moon Europa, the mission will need to endure bombardment by radiation and high-energy particles surrounding Jupiter. When NASA’s Europa Clipper begins orbiting Jupiter to investigate whether its ice-encased moon, Europa, has conditions suitable for life, the spacecraft will pass repeatedly through …
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FAIRMONT – The NASA Independent Verification & Validation Program’s Orion Team received an award for their contributions to the Artemis I Mission during a ceremony hosted at the I-79 Technology Park, in Fairmont. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Award Ceremony is an annual event recognizing employees and teams who have made strides in their role in promoting astronaut safety and mission success. Members of the IV&V Orion Team took home the team award for significant contributions “to improving the quality, reliability, and safety of the Orion Program’s safety and mission critical software in support of the Artemis I Mission.”…
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A storm is pictured in the Arabian Sea less than 700 miles off the coast of Oman as the International Space Station orbited 260 miles above.NASA / Jasmin Moghbeli While the International Space Station orbited 260 miles above Earth on Oct. 20, 2023, astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli snapped this image of a storm in the Arabian Sea, less than 700 miles off the coast of Oman. In addition to photographing our planet from the space station, NASA also observes Earth with satellites. These satellites collect data on storms that scientists can then use to create near real-time products to support disaster response. For example, NASA and JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) G…
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10 Min Read A Tale of Three Pollutants Freight, smoke, and ozone impact the health of both Chicago residents and communities downwind. A NASA-led mission looks to help by mapping air pollutants at a neighborhood scale. Credits: NASA/Kathleen Gaeta It was a hazy August day on Chicago’s South Side, and Nedra Sims Fears was hosting a small gathering to talk about the air. Interstate-94, which bisects her Chatham neighborhood, hummed nearby. “This was the summer I spent watching summer out my window,” Fears said. That’s because asthma runs in her family, and smoke from wildfires in Canada had wafted into Chicago, making it…
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Like a sonar using light instead of sound, lidar technology increasingly helps NASA scientists and explorers with remote sensing and surveying, mapping, 3D-image scanning, hazard detection and avoidance, and navigation. Cutting edge innovations by NASA researchers seek to refine lidars into smaller, lighter, more versatile tools for exploration. “There are a lot of flavors of lidar right now,” said Cheryl Gramling, assistant chief for technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It’s such an important technology because of the precision and versatility that it offers.” Light detection and ranging, or lidar, is a remote sensing tech…
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3 Min Read New Software Enables Atmospheric Modeling with Greater Resolution – Credits: Randall Martin / Washington University PROJECT High Performance GEOS-Chem SNAPSHOT An ESTO investment in software optimization helps researchers and citizen scientists model air quality and greenhouse gases with greater resolution, allowing them to better understand how global atmospheric trends impact local areas. A data visualization describing atmospheric NO2 concentrations, produced using High Performance GEOS-Chem Image credit: Randall Martin / Washington University Next-generation software is making it easier for rese…
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5 min read NASA’s Modern History Makers: Maricela Lizcano Maricela Lizcano poses inside NASA Glenn Research Center’s Aerospace Communications Facility.Credit: NASA/Bridget Caswell >back to gallery Maricela Lizcano never dreamed of working for NASA. In fact, she wasn’t planning on furthering her education until she had a revelation in her late twenties. “I was watching one of those forensic shows, and I loved the way they caught the criminals with science,” said Lizcano, research materials engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “I wanted to be able to do that. I realized I should be studying science and engineering.” It to…
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A simulated image of Roman’s observations toward the center of our galaxy, spanning only less than 1 percent of the total area of Roman’s galactic bulge time-domain survey. The simulated stars were drawn from the Besançon Galactic Model.Credit: Matthew Penny (Louisiana State University) NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide one of the deepest-ever views into the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. The mission will monitor hundreds of millions of stars in search of tell-tale flickers that betray the presence of planets, distant stars, small icy objects that haunt the outskirts of our solar system, isolated black holes, and more. Roman will likely set a new rec…
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The Starling spacecraft are digitally rendered in NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System interactive app, allowing users to track the swarm in real-time and observe their orbits relative to other space missions and celestial bodies.NASA NASA’s Starling CubeSats are zipping through low Earth orbit in the agency’s latest test of robotic swarm technologies for space. The four Starling spacecraft, launched in July 2023, are testing a group of small satellites ability to coordinate and cooperate independently without real-time updates from mission control. NASA invites the public to follow the Starling mission live in NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System 3D visualization, which use…
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NASA NASA, on behalf of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), has awarded a delivery order under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid-IV) contract to Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio for the QuickSounder spacecraft. The firm-fixed-price delivery order covers all phases of QuickSounder’s operations to include spacecraft development, integration of NOAA’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder Engineering Development Unit, spacecraft shipment, supporting launch operations, three years of mission operations, and eventual spacecraft decommissioning. The total value of the order is $54,973,400 with the period of performance beginning…
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Solicitation Number: NNH16ZCQ001K-CIS March 14, 2022 – Presolicitation March 29, 2022 – Solicitation Released April 12, 2022 – Amendment Published May 5, 2022 – Amendment 02 Published May 27, 2022 – Proposals Due Oct 11, 2022 – Source Selection Statement Posted | Press Release An artist concept of TDRS-M, now named TDRS-13.NASA Solicitation Overview NASA released a solicitation under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to seek industry led capability studies to explore and demonstrate future enhancements and innovative communication capabilities needed for NASA’s communication and navigation m…
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1 min read Dr. Natasha Schatzman Receives the Vertical Flight Society (VFS) 2023 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Award Dr. Natasha Schatzman, NASA Ames Research CenterNASA / Dominic Hart In May 2023, Dr. Natasha Schatzman received the Vertical Flight Society Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Award for her vertical flight research at NASA Ames Research Center. This annual award is given to a VFS member who is thirty-five years old or younger for outstanding contributions to vertical flight technology. The award announcement notes that Dr. Schatzman “was recognized for outstanding vertical lift research (internationally recognized in rotorcraft acoustics and full-scale win…
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5 min read NASA’s Dragonfly Tunnel Visions Dragonfly Team Utilizes Unique NASA Facilities to Shape Its Innovative Titan-bound Rotorcraft Dragonfly team members review the half-scale lander model after it underwent wind tunnel testing at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Pictured are (from left) Art Azarbarzin, Juan Cruz, Wayne Dellinger, Zibi Turtle, Chuck Hebert, Ken Hibbard, Bernadine Juliano and Bruce Owens.Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman With its dense atmosphere and low gravity, Saturn’s moon Titan is a great place to fly. But well before NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft lander soars through Titan’s skies, researchers on Earth – led…
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1 min read NASA Test Piloting Legends Reunite Former flight test instructor and current NASA test pilot Nils Larson reunited with former student and current astronaut Victor Glover on Oct. 21 during an open house at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.NASA / Dave Bowman Nils Larson, aerospace engineer and test pilot for NASA’s X-59 aircraft, met up with his former student, Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover, on Saturday, Oct. 21 during an open house held at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The pilots originally met more than two decades ago when Larson was an instructor at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. Larson tra…
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Science Launching on SpaceX's 29th Cargo Resupply Mission to the Space Station
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NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli works with the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, or ARED, removing and replacing cables. The device uses adjustable resistive mechanisms to provide crew members a weight load while exercising to maintain muscle strength and mass in microgravity. Students from Baldwin Union Free School District in Baldwin, New York, will have an opportunity this week to hear from an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will air live at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 27, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, an alumnus of Baldwin Union…
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