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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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Moving across a background of stars, the six red dots in this composite picture indicate the location of six sequential detections of the first near-Earth object discovered by NEOWISE after the spacecraft came out of hibernation in 2013: the asteroid 2013 YP139. The inset shows a zoomed-in view of one of the detections.NASA/JPL-Caltech Observed by NASA’s WISE mission, this image shows the entire sky seen in infrared light. Running through the center of the image and seen predominantly in cy…
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NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft captured this last “eyeful” of Saturn and its rings on March 27, 2004, as it continued its way to orbit insertion. This natural color image shows the color variations between atmospheric bands and features in the southern hemisphere of Saturn, subtle color differences across the planet’s middle B ring, as well as a bright blue sliver of light in the northern hemisphere – sunlight passing through the Cassini Division in Saturn’s rings and being scattered by the cloud-free upper atmosphere. Cassini-Huygens, at 12,593 pounds one of the heaviest planetary probes ever, was launched on Oct. 15, 1997, on a Tit…
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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NAS visualization & data sciences lead Chris Henze demonstrates the newly upgraded hyperwall visualization system to Ames center director Eugene Tu, deputy center director David Korsmeyer, and High-End Computing Capability manager William Thigpen.NASA/Brandon Torres Navarette In May, the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility, located at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, celebrated the newest generation of its hyperwall system, a wall of LCD screens that display supercomputer-scale visualizations of the very large datasets produced by NASA supercomputers a…
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A photo of MPLAN principal investigator awardees from various minority-serving institutions at the 2023 NASA Better Together conference in San Jose, California.Credits: NASA NASA has selected 23 minority-serving institutions to receive $1.2 million to grow their research and technology capabilities, collaborate on research projects, and contribute to the agency’s missions for the benefit of humanity. Through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) award, selected institutions will receive up to $50,000 each for a six-month period to work directly on STEM projects with subject matter experts i…
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9 Min Read Behind the Scenes of a NASA ‘Moonwalk’ in the Arizona Desert NASA astronauts Kate Rubins (left) and Andre Douglas. Credits: NASA/Josh Valcarcel NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas recently performed four moonwalk simulations to help NASA prepare for its Artemis III mission. Due to launch in September 2026, Artemis III will land two, yet-to-be-selected, astronauts at the Moon’s South Pole for the first time. Traveling to space requires immense preparation, not just for the astronauts, but for the hundreds of people who work in the background. That’s why Earth-based simulations are key. They allow s…
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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft approaches the International Space Station. Cygnus will deliver science experiments, crew supplies, and station hardware (Credits: NASA). Media accreditation is open for the next launch to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This launch is the 21st Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for the agency and will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting early August to launch the Cygnus spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following …
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3 Min Read July’s Night Sky Notes: A Hero, a Crown, and Possibly a Nova! Like shiny flakes sparkling in a snow globe, over 100,000 stars whirl within the globular cluster M13, one of the brightest star clusters visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Located 25,000 light-years from Earth with an apparent magnitude of 5.8, this glittering metropolis of stars in the constellation Hercules can be spotted with a pair of binoculars most easily in July. Credits: NASA by Vivan White of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific High in the summer sky, the constellation Hercules acts as a centerpiece for late-night stargazers. At t…
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Credits: NASA NASA has selected the University of Hawaii in Honolulu to maintain and operate the agency’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea in Hilo, Hawaii. The Management and Operations of NASA’s IRTF is a hybrid firm-fixed-price contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision. The contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $85.5 million, with a base period of performance from Monday, July 1 to June 30, 2025. Nine optional periods, if exercised, would extend the contract through Dec. 31, 2033. Under this contract, the University of Hawaii will provide maintenance and operation services for NASA at the telescope faci…
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4 Min Read NASA Announces Winners of Inaugural Human Lander Challenge NASA’s 2024 Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) Forum brought 12 university teams from across the United States to Huntsville, Alabama, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, to showcase their innovative concepts for addressing the complex issue of managing lunar dust. The 12 finalists, selected in March 2024, presented their final presentations to a panel of NASA and industry experts from NASA’s Human Landing Systems Program at the HuLC Forum in Huntsville June 25-27. NASA’s lunar exploration campaign Art…
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NASA/JPL-Caltech This labyrinth – with a silhouette of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes at its center – is used as a calibration target for the cameras and laser that are part of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), one of the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The image was captured by the Autofocus and Context Imager on SHERLOC on May 11, 2024, as the rover team sought to confirm it had successfully addressed an issue with a stuck lens cover. The Perseverance rover searches for signs of ancient microbial life, to advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. The …
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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Bronco Space team assembles its Bronco Ember technology, which uses a short-wave infrared camera with AI to improve early wildfire detection.Credit: Bronco Space NASA’s public competitions can catalyze big changes – not just for the agency but also for participants. Bronco Space, the CubeSat laboratory at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, matured more than just space technology as a result of winning funds from NASA’s TechLeap Prize competition. It grew from its roots in a broom closet to a newly built lab on campus, expanding its capacity to mature space te…
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Technological innovations make headlines every day, and NASA’s In Space Production Applications (InSPA) Portfolio of awards are driving these innovations into the future. InSPA awards help U.S. companies demonstrate in-space manufacturing of their products and move them to market, propelling U.S. industry toward the development of a sustainable, scalable, and profitable non-NASA demand for services and products manufactured in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit for use on Earth. Latest News: A Meta-Analysis of Semiconductor Materials Fabricated in Microgravity (June 26, 2024) ISSRDC Announces “Steps to Space” Session to Educate F…
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2 min read NASA@ My Library and Partners Engage Millions in Eclipse Training and Preparation The Space Science Institute, with funding from the NASA Science Mission Directorate and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, provided unprecedented training, support, and supplies to 15,000 libraries in the U.S. and territories in support of public engagement during the 2023 and 2024 eclipses. From September 2022 to September 2024, these efforts included: Co-development efforts with 3 NASA@ My Library Partner Libraries in the “Square of Awesome” (where both the total and annular eclipse crossed) led to the distribution of 50 NASA@ My Library Solar Science Kits to libraries wi…
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1 Min Read An Eclipse Megamovie Megastar Nasmus Nazir’s High Dynamic Range image, created with processed photographs of the Sun’s corona taken during the total solare eclipse on April 8th, 2024. Nazmus “Naz” Nasir is a software engineer by day, and an astrophotographer by night….and sometimes by day as well! This April, Naz participated in NASA’s Eclipse Megamovie 2024 project, photographing the total solar eclipse. He posted online a spectacular video composed of stabilized and aligned photographs of the sun taken during totality. The video includes links to tutorials Naz created to teach viewers the techniques he used. “I have had an int…
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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) View of the Nova-C landing area near Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon. North is to the right. Taken by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera) NAC (Narrow Angle Camera).NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University NASA has released two white papers associated with the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture efforts. The papers, one on lunar mobility drivers and needs, and one on lunar surface cargo, detail NASA’s latest thinking on specific areas of its lunar exploration strategy. While NASA has established a yearly cadence of releasing new documents associated with its Moon to Mars …
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2 min read Hubble Examines an Active Galaxy Near the Lion’s Heart This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the elliptical galaxy Messier 105. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Sarazin et al. It might appear featureless and unexciting at first glance, but NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations of this elliptical galaxy — known as Messier 105 — show that the stars near the galaxy’s center are moving very rapidly. Astronomers have concluded that these stars are zooming around a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 200 million Suns! This black hole releases huge amounts of energy as it consumes matter falling into it, making the system an active ga…
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 2 min read Sols 4226-4228: A Powerful Balancing Act NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image about 10 inches (25 centimeters) from the “Loch Leven” target using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHL…
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Perseverance Perseverance 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 Mars Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions All Planets Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets 2 min read Interesting Rock Textures Galore at Bright Angel NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Rig…
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NASA logo Leadership from NASA’s International Space Station and Commercial Crew Programs, as well as Boeing, will participate in a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday, June 28. NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate Starliner’s propulsion system performance before returning from the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Crew Flight Test. The agency also will discuss recent station operations. Audio of the call will stream live on the agency’s website: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv Participants include: Ken Bowersox, associate administrator, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew P…
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Credit: NASA NASA has awarded a contract to Leidos, Inc. of Reston, Virginia, to provide mission support for the agency’s International Space Station Program, Artemis campaign, and more. The Cargo Mission Contract 4 has a total potential value of $476.5 million, with a base period from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2026, followed by three option periods. The contract includes a cost-plus-fixed-fee core with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quality component and the capability to issue cost-plus-fixed-fee or firm-fixed-price task orders. The place of performance will be at a Leidos facility in Webster, Texas. Under the contract, Leidos will provide analytical and p…
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Katie Burlingame is an ETHOS (Environmental and Thermal Operating Systems) flight controller and instructor in the Flight Operations Directorate supporting the International Space Station. Burlingame trains astronauts and flight controllers on the International Space Station’s environmental control systems, internal thermal control systems, and emergency response. Burlingame shares about their path to NASA, what Pride Month means to them, and more. Read on to learn more! Where are you from? My dad was in the Coast Guard, so I lived in a few different places growing up, mostly along the East Coast and Southeast. I lived near Orlando, Florida in high school, so…
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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA test pilot Wayne Ringelberg sits in the air taxi virtual reality flight simulator during a test at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in March 2024.NASA/Steve Freeman A new custom virtual reality flight simulator built by NASA researchers will allow them to explore how passengers experience air taxi rides and collect data that will help designers create new aircraft with passenger comfort in mind. Wayne Ringelberg, a test pilot at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, recently completed a series of test rides in the new simulat…
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Six of the seven members of the NASA Kennedy Space Center team recognized by the White House on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, during the Presidential Federal Sustainability Awards stand next to an electric vehicle (EV) charging station in front of Kennedy’s Central Campus Headquarters Building. Those members are, from left to right, center services division chief Gustavo Diaz, partnership development office chief Matthew Jimenez, then branch chief Gerald “Jay” Green, sustainability lead Lashanda Battle, transportation officer Melissa Coleman, and then transportation specialist Spencer Davis. This EV station is one of 28 installed on center through a partnership with local utili…
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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Derek Bramble is a HR Business Partner with NASA’s Langley Research Center. Over his 14-year career at NASA Langley, Bramble has served in a variety of mission and program support roles.NASA/Ryan Torrisi Derek Bramble has served in a variety of mission and program support roles over his 14-year career at NASA Langley. He currently serves as an HR Business Partner in LaRC’s Human Capital Office, where he works closely with a number of organizations across the Center providing them with strategic and operational HR support. Derek previously served as program support for NASA’s Small Business…
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4 min read Mapping the Red Planet with the Power of Open Science This image of Perseverance’s backshell sitting upright on the surface of Jezero Crater was collected from an altitude of 26 feet (8 meters) by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 26th flight at Mars on April 19, 2022. NASA/JPL-Caltech Mars rovers can only make exciting new discoveries thanks to human scientists making careful decisions about their next stop. The Mars 2020 mission is aimed at exploring the geology of Jezero Crater and seeking signs of ancient microbial life on Mars using the Perseverance rover. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California used…
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