Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
NASA, Firefly Invite Media to Discuss End of Blue Ghost Moon Mission
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
LOCATION: Texas State Capitol – Austin, Texas SUBJECT: Space Day activities at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas PHOTOGRAPHER: Lauren HarnettNASA March 17, 2025
NASA is heading back to the state capitol in March for Space Day Texas, a recognition of achievements throughout Texas and a look ahead to the impact future human space exploration has on the Lone Star state.
The two-day schedule of events and exhibits focusing on exploration, astronauts, and science, technology, engineering, and math education will include astronaut visits, interactive exhibits, and legislative proclamations.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will share its accomplishments on the Capitol grounds from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT Tuesday, March 25, joining academic and commercial partners from across the state to share Texas’ blueprint for expanding humanity’s frontier in space.
On Monday, March 24, exhibits will feature the Texas High School Aerospace Scholars program at the University of Texas Elementary Charter school, along with NASA Johnson’s Office of STEM Engagement, Orion program, and Lockheed Martin. Interactive events will feature NASA STEM engagement programs and hands-on exhibits.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 25, proclamations celebrating NASA’s 25th anniversary of continuous human presence on the International Space Station, the High School Aerospace Scholars program, and the continued progression of the Artemis campaign through NASA’s commercialization of cargo, crew, landers, spacesuits, and rovers will be read in the Texas House and Senate chambers, respectively. Following the proclamations, an Artemis II crew astronaut will participate in a live question and answer session on the front steps of the Capitol.
NASA’s impact in Texas is strong. NASA Johnson has served as the iconic site for some of the greatest moments in American history, from landing humans on the Moon to assembling the International Space Station.
For more than 60 years, NASA has led the world in human space exploration. Today, it is testing technologies on the Space Station that will help humanity push forward to the Moon and Mars. NASA’s workforce in Texas includes more than 10,000 aerospace employees and more than $2 billion in contracts and federal salaries in 2024.
Learn more about NASA Johnson and its impact in Texas at:
https://www.nasa.gov/johnson
-end-
Kelly Humphries
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov
View the full article
-
By NASA
Students, mentors, and team supporters donning team colors watch robots clash on the playing field at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition in El Segundo on March 16. NASA/JPL-Caltech Robots built by high schoolers vied for points in a fast-moving game inspired by complex ocean ecosystems at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition.
High school students who spent weeks designing, assembling, and testing 125-pound rolling robots put their fast-moving creations into the ring over the weekend, facing off at the annual Los Angeles regional FIRST Robotics Competition, an event supported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Four of the 43 participating teams earned a chance to compete in April at the FIRST international championship tournament in Houston, which draws winning teams from across the country.
Held March 14 to 16 at the Da Vinci Schools campus in El Segundo, the event is one of many supported by the nonprofit FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which pairs students with STEM professionals. Teams receive the game rules, which change every year, in January and sprint toward competition, assembling their robot based on FIRST’s specifications. The global competition not only gives students engineering experience but also helps them develop business skills with a range of activities, from fundraising for their team to marketing.
For this year’s game, called “Reefscape,” two alliances of three teams competed for points during each 2½-minute match. That meant six robots at a time sped across the floor, knocking into each other and angling to seed “coral” (pieces of PVC pipe) on “reefs” and harvesting “algae” (rubber balls). In the final seconds of each round, teams could earn extra points if their robots were able to hoist themselves into the air and dangle from hanging cages, as though they were ascending to the ocean surface.
The action was set to a bouncy soundtrack that reverberated through the gym, while in the bleachers there were choreographed dancing, loud cheers, pom-poms, and even some tears.
The winning alliance was composed of Warbots from Downey’s Warren High School, TorBots from Torrance’s South High School, and West Torrance Robotics from Torrance’s West High School. The Robo-Nerds of Benjamin Franklin High in Los Angeles’ Highland Park and Robo’Lyon from Notre Dame de Bellegarde outside Lyon, France, won awards that mean they’ll also get to compete in Houston, alongside the Warbots and the TorBots.
NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams across the country and support FIRST Robotics competitions to encourage students to pursue STEM careers in aerospace. For the L.A. regional competition, JPL has coordinated volunteers — and provided coaching and mentoring to teams, judges, and other competition support — for 25 years.
For more information about the FIRST Los Angeles regional, visit:
https://cafirst.org/frc/losangeles/
News Media Contact
Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov
2025-037
Share
Details
Last Updated Mar 17, 2025 Related Terms
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Explore More
3 min read NASA Analysis Shows Unexpected Amount of Sea Level Rise in 2024
Article 4 days ago 6 min read Cosmic Mapmaker: NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Ready to Launch
Article 1 week ago 5 min read NASA Turns Off 2 Voyager Science Instruments to Extend Mission
Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
View the full article
-
By NASA
Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own. New modeling indicates that Donaldjohanson may have been formed about 150 million years ago when a larger parent asteroid broke apart; its orbit and spin properties have undergone significant evolution since.
This artist’s concept compares the approximate size of Lucy’s next asteroid target, Donaldjohanson, to the smallest main belt asteroids previously visited by spacecraft — Dinkinesh, visited by Lucy in November 2023, and Steins — as well as two recently explored near-Earth asteroids, Bennu and Ryugu. Credits: SwRI/ESA/OSIRIS/NASA/Goddard/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab/University of Arizona/JAXA/University of Tokyo & Collaborators When the Lucy spacecraft flies by this approximately three-mile-wide space rock on April 20, 2025, the data collected could provide independent insights on such processes based on its shape, surface geology and cratering history.
“Based on ground-based observations, Donaldjohanson appears to be a peculiar object,” said Simone Marchi, deputy principal investigator for Lucy of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado and lead author of the research published in The Planetary Science Journal. “Understanding the formation of Donaldjohanson could help explain its peculiarities.”
“Data indicates that it could be quite elongated and a slow rotator, possibly due to thermal torques that have slowed its spin over time,” added David Vokrouhlický, a professor at the Charles University, Prague, and co-author of the research.
Lucy’s target is a common type of asteroid, composed of silicate rocks and perhaps containing clays and organic matter. The new paper indicates that Donaldjohanson is a likely member of the Erigone collisional asteroid family, a group of asteroids on similar orbits that was created when a larger parent asteroid broke apart. The family originated in the inner main belt not very far from the source regions of the near-Earth asteroids Bennu and Ryugu, recently visited respectively by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s) Hayabusa2 missions.
“We can hardly wait for the flyby because, as of now, Donaldjohanson’s characteristics appear very distinct from Bennu and Ryugu. Yet, we may uncover unexpected connections,” added Marchi.
“It’s exciting to put together what we’ve been able to glean about this asteroid,” said Keith Noll, Lucy project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But Earth-based observing and theoretical models can only take us so far – to validate these models and get to the next level of detail we need close-up data. Lucy’s upcoming flyby will give us that.”
Donaldjohanson is named for the paleontologist who discovered Lucy, the fossilized skeleton of an early hominin found in Ethiopia in 1974, which is how the Lucy mission got its name. Just as the Lucy fossil provided unique insights into the origin of humanity, the Lucy mission promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the origin of humanity’s home world. Donaldjohanson is the only named asteroid so far to be visited while its namesake is still living.
“Lucy is an ambitious NASA mission, with plans to visit 11 asteroids in its 12-year mission to tour the Trojan asteroids that are located in two swarms leading and trailing Jupiter,” said SwRI’s Dr. Hal Levison, mission principal investigator at the Boulder, Colorado branch of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “Encounters with main belt asteroids not only provide a close-up view of those bodies but also allow us to perform engineering tests of the spacecraft’s innovative navigation system before the main event to study the Trojans. These relics are effectively fossils of the planet formation process, holding vital clues to deciphering the history of our solar system.”
Lucy’s principal investigator is based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th mission in NASA’s Discovery Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
By Deb Schmid and Katherine Kretke, Southwest Research Institute
Media Contact:
Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov
Nancy N. Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Share
Details
Last Updated Mar 17, 2025 EditorMadison OlsonContactNancy N. Jonesnancy.n.jones@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Lucy Missions Planetary Science Planetary Science Division Explore More
3 min read NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Takes Its 1st Images of Asteroid Donaldjohanson
Article 3 weeks ago 3 min read NASA’s Lucy Asteroid Target Gets a Name
Article 2 years ago 4 min read NASA Lucy Images Reveal Asteroid Dinkinesh to be Surprisingly Complex
Article 10 months ago View the full article
-
By NASA
Explore This Section Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read NASA’s Webb Images Young, Giant Exoplanets, Detects Carbon Dioxide
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the clearest look in the infrared yet at the iconic multi-planet system HR 8799. Full image below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, W. Balmer (JHU), L. Pueyo (STScI), M. Perrin (STScI) NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of multiple gas giant planets within an iconic planetary system. HR 8799, a young system 130 light-years away, has long been a key target for planet formation studies.
The observations indicate that the well-studied planets of HR 8799 are rich in carbon dioxide gas. This provides strong evidence that the system’s four giant planets formed much like Jupiter and Saturn, by slowly building solid cores that attract gas from within a protoplanetary disk, a process known as core accretion.
The results also confirm that Webb can infer the chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres through imaging. This technique complements Webb’s powerful spectroscopic instruments, which can resolve the atmospheric composition.
“By spotting these strong carbon dioxide features, we have shown there is a sizable fraction of heavier elements, like carbon, oxygen, and iron, in these planets’ atmospheres,” said William Balmer, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Given what we know about the star they orbit, that likely indicates they formed via core accretion, which is an exciting conclusion for planets that we can directly see.”
Balmer is the lead author of the study announcing the results published today in The Astrophysical Journal. Balmer and their team’s analysis also includes Webb’s observation of a system 97 light-years away called 51 Eridani.
Image A: HR 8799 (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided the clearest look in the infrared yet at the iconic multi-planet system HR 8799. The closest planet to the star, HR 8799 e, orbits 1.5 billion miles from its star, which in our solar system would be located between the orbit of Saturn and Neptune. The furthest, HR 8799 b, orbits around 6.3 billion miles from the star, more than twice Neptune’s orbital distance. Colors are applied to filters from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), revealing their intrinsic differences. A star symbol marks the location of the host star HR 8799, whose light has been blocked by the coronagraph. In this image, the color blue is assigned to 4.1 micron light, green to 4.3 micron light, and red to the 4.6 micron light. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, W. Balmer (JHU), L. Pueyo (STScI), M. Perrin (STScI) Image B: 51 Eridani (NIRCam Image)
Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured this image of 51 Eridani b (also referred to as 51 Eri b), a cool, young exoplanet that orbits 890 million miles from its star, similar to Saturn’s orbit in our solar system. The 51 Eridani system is 97 light-years from Earth. This image includes filters representing 4.1-micron light as red. The background red in this image is not light from other planets, but a result of light subtraction during image processing. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, W. Balmer (JHU), L. Pueyo (STScI), M. Perrin (STScI) HR 8799 is a young system about 30 million years old, a fraction of our solar system’s 4.6 billion years. Still hot from their tumultuous formation, the planets within HR 8799 emit large amounts of infrared light that give scientists valuable data on how they formed.
Giant planets can take shape in two ways: by slowly building solid cores with heavier elements that attract gas, just like the giants in our solar system, or when particles of gas rapidly coalesce into massive objects from a young star’s cooling disk, which is made mostly of the same kind of material as the star. The first process is called core accretion, and the second is called disk instability. Knowing which formation model is more common can give scientists clues to distinguish between the types of planets they find in other systems.
“Our hope with this kind of research is to understand our own solar system, life, and ourselves in the comparison to other exoplanetary systems, so we can contextualize our existence,” Balmer said. “We want to take pictures of other solar systems and see how they’re similar or different when compared to ours. From there, we can try to get a sense of how weird our solar system really is—or how normal.”
Image C: Young Gas Giant HR 8799 e (NIRCam Spectrum)
This graph shows a spectrum of one of the planets in the HR 8799 system, HR 8799 e. Spectral fingerprints of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide appear in data collected by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Olmsted (STScI) Of the nearly 6,000 exoplanets discovered, few have been directly imaged, as even giant planets are many thousands of times fainter than their stars. The images of HR 8799 and 51 Eridani were made possible by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) coronagraph, which blocks light from bright stars to reveal otherwise hidden worlds.
This technology allowed the team to look for infrared light emitted by the planets in wavelengths that are absorbed by specific gases. The team found that the four HR 8799 planets contain more heavy elements than previously thought.
The team is paving the way for more detailed observations to determine whether objects they see orbiting other stars are truly giant planets or objects such as brown dwarfs, which form like stars but don’t accumulate enough mass to ignite nuclear fusion.
“We have other lines of evidence that hint at these four HR 8799 planets forming using this bottom-up approach” said Laurent Pueyo, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, who co-led the work. “How common is this for planets we can directly image? We don’t know yet, but we’re proposing more Webb observations to answer that question.”
“We knew Webb could measure colors of the outer planets in directly imaged systems,” added Rémi Soummer, director of STScI’s Russell B. Makidon Optics Lab and former lead for Webb coronagraph operations. “We have been waiting for 10 years to confirm that our finely tuned operations of the telescope would also allow us to access the inner planets. Now the results are in and we can do interesting science with it.”
The NIRCam observations of HR 8799 and 51 Eridani were conducted as part of Guaranteed Time Observations programs 1194 and 1412 respectively.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
Downloads
Click any image to open a larger version.
View/Download all image products at all resolutions for this article from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
View/Download the research results from The Astrophysical Journal.
Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hannah Braun – hbraun@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Roberto Molar Candanosa
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
Related Information
More Webb News
More Webb Images
Webb Science Themes
Webb Mission Page
Webb Blog: How Webb’s Coronagraphs Reveal Exoplanets in the Infrared
Video: Eclipse/Coronagraph Animation
Video: Exploring Star and Planet Formation
Learn more about gas giants
Related For Kids
What is the Webb Telescope?
SpacePlace for Kids
En Español
Ciencia de la NASA
NASA en español
Space Place para niños
Keep Exploring Related Topics
James Webb Space Telescope
Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…
Exoplanets
Exoplanet Stories
Universe
Share
Details
Last Updated Mar 17, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Astrophysics Exoplanets Gas Giant Exoplanets Goddard Space Flight Center Science & Research The Universe View the full article
-
By NASA
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 members pose together for a portrait inside the vestibule between the International Space Station and the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. Clockwise from left, are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Suni Williams, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.NASA NASA will provide live coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 return to Earth from the International Space Station, beginning with Dragon spacecraft hatch closure preparations at 10:45 p.m. EDT Monday, March 17.
NASA and SpaceX met on Sunday to assess weather and splashdown conditions off Florida’s coast for the return of the agency’s Crew-9 mission from the International Space Station. Mission managers are targeting an earlier Crew-9 return opportunity based on favorable conditions forecasted for the evening of Tuesday, March 18. The updated return target continues to allow the space station crew members time to complete handover duties while providing operational flexibility ahead of less favorable weather conditions expected for later in the week.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, are completing a long-duration science expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory and will return time-sensitive research to Earth.
Mission managers will continue monitoring weather conditions in the area, as Dragon’s undocking depends on various factors, including spacecraft readiness, recovery team readiness, weather, sea states, and other factors. NASA and SpaceX will confirm the specific splashdown location closer to the Crew-9 return.
Watch Crew-9 return activities on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of additional platforms, including social media. For schedule information, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/live
For Crew-9 return, NASA’s live operations coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Monday, March 17
10:45 p.m. – Hatch closing coverage begins on NASA+
Tuesday, March 18
12:45 a.m. – Undocking coverage begins on NASA+
1:05 a.m. – Undocking
Following the conclusion of undocking coverage, NASA will switch to audio only.
Pending weather conditions at the splashdown sites, continuous coverage will resume on March 18 on NASA+ prior to the start of deorbit burn.
4:45 p.m. – Return coverage begins on NASA+
5:11 p.m. – Deorbit burn (time is approximate)
5:57 p.m. – Splashdown (time is approximate)
7:30 p.m. – Return-to-Earth media conference on NASA+, with the following participants:
Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, NASA’ Space Operations Mission Directorate Steve Stich, manager, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Jeff Arend, manager for systems engineering and integration, NASA’s International Space Station, NASA’s International Space Station Office Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX To participate in the briefing media must contact the newsroom at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston by 5 p.m., March 17, at: jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov or 281-483-5111. To ask questions, media must dial in no later than 10 minutes before the start of the call. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online.
Find full mission coverage, NASA’s commercial crew blog, and more information about the Crew-9 mission at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
-end-
Joshua Finch / Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
Kenna Pell / Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
kenna.m.pell@nasa.gov / sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov
Steve Siceloff / Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-867-2468
steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov / stephanie.n.plucinsky@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Mar 16, 2025 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.