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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Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 4 min read Celebrating the First Earth Day Event at NASA Headquarters Photo. Young attendees pose in front of the NASA Worm at the Earth Day celebration at NASA HQ. Photo credit: NASA Introduction Organized by the Science Mission Directorate’s Science Support Office (SSO), NASA hosted its 12th annual Earth Day Celebration event from April 18–19, 2024. For the first time ever, the two-day event was held at NASA Headquarters (HQ) in Washington, DC. The in-person event, which was f…
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This enormous piece of space hardware is NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft bus, which will maneuver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function while there. It is photographed here in the largest clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where engineers are inspecting it upon delivery. The bus rests atop an aluminum ring that will temporarily protect its underside. The two copper-colored flaps are Roman’s Lower Instrument Sun Shade –– deployable panels designed to help shield the observatory from sunlight.NASA/Chris Gunn The spacecraft bus that will deliver NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to its orbit and enable i…
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News Chief Rob Garner shares NASA Goddard’s story with the public, supporting writers and creators in the Office of Communications. Name: Rob Garner Title: News Chief Formal Job Classification: Senior public affairs specialist Organization: Office of Communications (Code 130) Rob Garner has worked in the Office of Communications at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., since 2007.NASA/Jamie Adkins What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? I am responsible for helping take the great work going on at our center and sharing it with as many people as we can. My job is sort of like being an editor in chief. I try …
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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. The mission is targeting an Oct. 10, 2024, launch.NASA/JPL-Caltech The first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth, Europa Clipper aims to find out if the ice-encased moon Europa could be habitable. NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest the agency has ever built for a planetary mission, will travel 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Europa, an intriguing icy moon of Jupiter. The spacecraft’s launch period…
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Hubble Space Telescope Home NASA’s Hubble Finds More… Missions Hubble Home Overview About Hubble The History of Hubble Hubble Timeline Why Have a Telescope in Space? Hubble by the Numbers At the Museum FAQs Impact & Benefits Hubble’s Impact & Benefits Science Impacts Cultural Impact Technology Benefits Impact on Human Spaceflight Astro Community Impacts Science Hubble Science Science Themes Science Highlights Science Behind Discoveries Hubble’s Partners in Science Universe Uncovered Explore the Night Sky Observatory Hubble Observatory Hubble Design Mission Operations Missions to Hubble Hubble vs Webb Team Hubble Team Career Aspirations Hubbl…
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Figure 1. An artist’s concept of the Van Allen belts with a cutaway section of the giant donuts of radiation that surround Earth. Image Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio A new instrument is using advanced detection techniques and leveraging an orbit with specific characteristics to increase our understanding of the Van Allen belts—regions surrounding Earth that contain energetic particles that can endanger both robotic and human space missions. Recently, the instrument provided a unique view of changes to this region that were brought on by an intense magnetic storm in May 2024. The discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts by t…
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The X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft, built by North American Aviation (NAA), greatly expanded our knowledge of flight at speeds exceeding Mach 6 and altitudes above 250,000 feet. A joint project among NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy, the X-15’s first powered flight took place on Sept. 17, 1959, at the Flight Research Center, now the Armstrong Flight Research Center, at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) in California. NAA chief test pilot A. Scott Crossfield piloted this flight and other early test flights before NASA and the Air Force took ownership of the aircraft. Between 1959 and 1968, 12 pilots completed 199 missions and achieved ever higher speeds and …
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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist concept shows a NASA-developed small-core jet engine installed in General Electric Aerospace’s CFM RISE jet engine design. The more fuel-efficient small core powers a large open turbofan, which also helps increase efficiency. The effort is part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership to help inform the next generation of ultra-efficient airliners.GE Aerospace Hybrid-electric cars have been a staple of the road for many years now. Soon that same idea of a part-electric-, part-gas-powered engine may find its way into the skies propelling a future jet airliner. NA…
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Europa Clipper Launch
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“I would say family and part of that ‘first-gen experience’ [shaped me]. Being born in the U.S. gave me a lot of opportunities that my family and parents were robbed of because of situations in their home country. It shaped me to be a hard worker and to aspire to large things because not only was it my goal at this point, but it was also my parents’ aspiration. “I feel that a lot of their pride comes from their kids. That pushes me to be a better employee or to want to do better for myself because I know that they’ve made a lot of sacrifices for me while I was building up to becoming an engineer. Now that I’ve accomplished my goal, it’s very important for me to always…
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Mars: Perseverance (Mars 2020) Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 mi…
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JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) researchers examined the structures of four titanium-based compounds solidified in levitators in microgravity and on the ground and found that the internal microstructures were generally similar. These results could support development of new materials for use in space manufacturing. To produce glass or metal alloys on Earth, raw materials are placed into a container and heated. But reactions between the container and the materials can cause imperfections. The JAXA Electrostatic Levitation Furnace can levitate, melt, and solidify materials without a container. The facility enables measurement of the thermophysical propert…
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NASA An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this view of peak fall foliage around Ottawa, Canada on Oct. 14, 2020. Sugar maple leaves turn orange-red, and hickories turn golden-bronze during autumn, regionally known as “the Fall Rhapsody.” Fall color reaches its peak when air temperatures drop and shortened daylight triggers plants to slow and stop the production of chlorophyll—the molecule that plants use to synthesize food. When the green chlorophyll pigment fades, various yellow and red pigments become visible. Image credit: NASA EUSO View the full article
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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) As students head back to school, teachers have a new tool that brings NASA satellite data down to their earthly classrooms. The My NASA Data homepage categorizes content by areas of study called spheres and also Earth as a system. NASA/mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov For over 50 years of observing Earth, NASA’s satellites have collected petabytes of global science data (that’s millions and millions of gigabytes) – with terabytes more coming in by the day. Since 2004, the My NASA Data website has been developing ways for students and teachers of grades 3-12 to understand, and visualize NASA dat…
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Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 14 min read Aura at 20 Years Introduction In the 1990s and early 2000s, an international team of engineers and scientists designed an integrated observatory for atmospheric composition – a bold endeavor to provide unprecedented detail that was essential to understanding how Earth’s ozone (O3) layer and air quality respond to changes in atmospheric composition caused by human activities and natural phenomena. This work addressed a key NASA Earth science objective. Originally referred to …
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A NASA MITTIC participant during the competition’s on-site experience and Space Tank at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Dec. 7, 2022. (Credit: Riley McClenaghan) NASA will spotlight its program to engage underrepresented and underserved students in science, technology, engineering, and math at the 2024 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Week Conference in Philadelphia, from Sunday, Sept. 15, to Thursday, Sept. 19. As part of the White House’s initiative to advance educational equity and economic opportunities through HBCUs, NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) provides HBCU scholars access to NASA tec…
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The Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 completed the goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth before the end of the decade. At the time, NASA planned nine more Apollo Moon landing missions of increasing complexity and an Earth orbiting experimental space station. No firm human space flight plans existed once these missions ended in the mid-1970s. After taking office in 1969, President Richard M. Nixon chartered a Space Task Group (STG) to formulate plans for the nation’s space program for the coming decades. The STG’s proposals proved overly ambitious and costly to the fiscally conservative President who chose …
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Manuel Retana arrived in the U.S. at 15 years old, unable to speak English and with nothing but a dream and $200 in his pocket. Now, he plays a crucial role implementing life support systems on spacecraft that will carry humans to the Moon and, eventually, Mars—paving the way for the next frontier of space exploration. A project manager for NASA’s Johnson Space Center Life Support Systems Branch in Houston, Retana helps to ensure astronaut safety aboard the International Space Station and for future Artemis missions. His work involves tracking on-orbit technical issues, managing the cost and schedule impacts of flight projects, and delivering emergency hardware.…
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 5 min read Sols 4304-4006: 12 Years, 42 Drill Holes, and Now… 1 Million ChemCam Shots! In…
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Credit: NASA NASA has awarded the NASA Academic Mission Services 2 (NAMS-2) contract to Crown Consulting Inc., of Arlington, Virginia, to provide the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, aeronautics and exploration technology research and development support. NAMS-2 is a single award hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum potential value of $121 million. The contract begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, with a 60-day phase-in period, followed by a two-year base period, and options to extend performance through November 2029. Under this contract, the company will support a broad scope of scient…
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NASA, ESA/Matthias Maurer An astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped this picture of the Moon as the station orbited 265 miles above the U.S. state of Minnesota on Dec. 17, 2021. Astronauts aboard the orbital lab take images using handheld digital cameras, usually through windows in the station’s cupola, for Crew Earth Observations. Crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of the Moon and Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere. On Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, International Observe the Moon Night, everyone on Earth is invited to learn about lunar science, participate in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connecti…
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The Sun rises above the Flight Research Building at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.Credit: NASA NASA‘s Watts on the Moon Challenge, designed to advance the nation’s lunar exploration goals under the Artemis campaign by challenging United States innovators to develop breakthrough power transmission and energy storage technologies that could enable long-duration Moon missions, concludes on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. “For astronauts to maintain a sustained presence on the Moon during Artemis missions, they will need continuous, reliable power,” said Kim Krome-Sieja, acting program manager, Centennial Challenges at NASA’…
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read Sols 4302-4303: West Side of Upper Gediz Vallis, From Tungsten Hills to the Next Rock…
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Image Credit: BitGrit The Digital Information Platform (DIP) Sub-Project of Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) is seeking to make available in the National Airspace System a variety of live data feeds and services built on that data. The goal is to allow external partners to build advanced, data-driven services using this data, and to make these services available to flight operators, who will use these capabilities to save fuel and avoid delays. Different wind directions, weather conditions at or near the airport, inoperative runway, etc., affects the runway configurations to be used and impacts the overall arrival throughputs. Knowing the arrival runway and …
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4 Min Read NASA’s Artemis II Crew Uses Iceland Terrain for Lunar Training Credits: NASA/Trevor Graff/Robert Markowitz Black and gray sediment stretches as far as the eye can see. Boulders sit on top of ground devoid of vegetation. Humans appear almost miniature in scale against a swath of shadowy mountains. At first glance, it seems a perfect scene from an excursion on the Moon’s surface … except the people are in hiking gear, not spacesuits. Iceland has served as a lunar stand-in for training NASA astronauts since the days of the Apollo missions, and this summer the Artemis II crew took its place in that long history…
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