Category: Space

PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. NARRATOR Just south of the equator lies a tiny plot of volcanic soil, a thousand miles from the nearest continent. The island sits about midway between the horns of Africa and South America. In 1501, Portuguese admiral Jose de Nova Gallege stumbled upon it en route to India, but left it unnamed. Two years later, Portuguese general Afonso de Albequerque happened upon the island…

A conversation with Marianne Sowa, branch chief of the Space Biosciences Research branch at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and Jack Miller, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, about radiation science using GeneLab. Transcript Abby Tabor: Welcome to NASA in Silicon Valley episode 81. This week, we’re talking to Marianne Sowa, the branch chief of the space biosciences research branch here at NASA Ames. We also have Jack Miller from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who’s a physicist doing research related to radiation biology, in collaboration with NASA. From radiation exposure here on Earth, to the effects on the International Space…

The Curiosity rover has been probing the secrets of Mars since its arrival in 2012. Its discoveries include chemical signatures that could be related to life – or, alternatively, to geological processes. The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument has found organic molecules, which are fundamental building blocks of life on Earth, but can also be produced in non-biological ways. Scientists have also observed sudden rises and falls in methane, a gas also associated with life, but which can be geological in nature, too. But with such a thin atmosphere, cold temperatures and scathing radiation from the Sun, the…

[0:00] Neil Armstrong: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” [0:08] Narrator: The longest-distance race in human history was the competition to go to the Moon. Neil Armstrong placing his foot on the lunar surface was equivalent to a runner crossing the finish line. The starter pistol had been the Soviet Union’s launch of the first Earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik. [0:23]CBS news report on Sputnik, with spacecraft beep heard in background News announcer:“CBS television presents a special report on Sputnik 1: the Soviet space satellite. Douglas Edwards reporting.” Douglas Edwards:“Until two days ago, that sound had…

From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible. On episode 366, NASA’s expert in exploration architectures discusses how the agency stays on track to take humans farther into deep space through reviews such as the Architecture Concept review.  This episode was recorded on November 1, 2024. Transcript Host (Leah Cheshier): Houston, we have a podcast! Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson…

NARRATOR At his palace on Mount Olympus, Hephaestus, god of the forge, wrought powerful weapons for the Grecian gods and heroes: lightning for Zeus, a winged helmet for Hermes, Agamemnon’s staff, Achilles’ armor, the chariot of Helios. But, he wasn’t always one with the pantheon, atop Olympus’ heavenly peaks. His place amongst the pantheon was hard-earned. At birth, Hera, his mother, deemed Hephaestus too hideous to reside amongst the gods. She cast him down to the mortal world, only to return when his talents for metallurgy made him invaluable. He honed these skills on the isle of Lemnos, an…

A conversation with Charlie Sobeck, Kepler’s former mission manager and now system engineer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. Transcript: Host (Matthew Buffington):Welcome to NASA in Silicon Valley episode 82. This week we’re talking to Charlie Sobeck, the system engineer for the Kepler space telescope — NASA’s first planet-hunting mission. Charlie has been working on this mission here at Ames since 2001 and has held various roles in getting this spacecraft off the ground and keeping it humming along in deep space. This month marks the 9th anniversary of Kepler’s launch, and it’s a bit of a…

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will give us the most detailed look yet at Jupiter’s extraordinary moon Europa. Smaller than our own Moon, Europa is one of the prime candidates for life beyond Earth because it has a deep ocean under its icy shell. The Europa Clipper spacecraft, named for speedy 19th century merchant ships, will map the surface, learn more about the ocean using ice-penetrating radar, and see if there are plumes of water shooting out from the cracks in the ice, among many other scientific activities. Project scientist Bob Pappalardo at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory discusses this mission…

[0:00](Song excerpt: “We Know the Way” from the movie “Moana”) [0:03] Narrator: Long before GPS, Google maps and cell phones, travelers navigated by the stars. The brightest stars in the sky form recognizable constellations that can act as guideposts. Ancient Polynesians, for instance, were adept at celestial navigation, and used it to sail from island to island throughout the vast South Pacific. [0:25] (Song excerpt continues) “We sail the length of seas, on the ocean breeze. At night we name every star, we know where we are…” [0:33] Narrator: In the Disney film, “Moana,” in order to track down…

From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible. On episode 367, NASA and Firefly Aerospace experts discuss the upcoming launch of Blue Ghost Mission 1, its lunar lander, and the science and technology being delivered to the Moon’s surface.  This episode was recorded on December 10, 2024. Transcript Host (Nilufar Ramji):   Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of NASA’s…

Results from an enhanced radar technique have demonstrated improvement to sub-surface observations of Mars.  NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has revisited and raised new questions about a mysterious feature buried beneath thousands of feet of ice at the Red Planet’s south pole. In a recent study, researchers conclude from data obtained using an innovative radar technique that an area on Mars suspected of being an underground lake is more likely to be a layer of rock and dust.   The 2018 discovery of the suspected lake set off a flurry of scientific activity, as water is closely linked with life…

NARRATOR It was Bulldog Day, 1957. Homecoming festivities at New Mexico’s Albuquerque High School were well underway. The morning’s parade, a vibrant display of green and white, had been a rousing success, even if Mrs. Hefferan’s students hadn’t won any prizes for their float. But any disappointment they may have had would soon be forgotten, though not because of the homecoming game. No. Many of Mrs. Hefferan’s students wouldn’t even attend. Not because they didn’t care for the sport. Certainly not. Because something far more significant than a football had just taken flight. It was Oct. 4, 1957, and…

A conversation with Jessie Dotson, Kepler’s project scientist, and Geert Barentsen, director of the mission’s guest observer office, talking about how NASA’s first planet-hunting mission has contributed so much to the field of astronomy. Transcript Host (Matthew Buffington):Welcome to NASA in Silicon Valley episode 83. Following last week’s conversation with the Kepler space telescope system engineer Charlie Sobeck, we’re continuing on the theme of all things Kepler. This week we’re checking in with the mission’s dynamic science duo: Jessie Dotson is Kepler’s project scientist and Geert Barentsen is director of the guest observer office. They’re here to tell us…

Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is a mysterious dwarf planet called Ceres. Its surface is dark and muddy, but has hundreds of patches of bright material. The salt-covered dome and other bright features in Occator Crater are so reflective that they looked like flashlights in distant images. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft got a close look, and pointed scientists to the idea that liquid brine has come up from the interior of Ceres, forming the Occator dome and other bright features. Ceres’ crust also contains a significant amount of ice. Astrobiologist Britney Schmidt discusses the implications, as well as…

(tense music) InSight Mission Controller: Atmospheric entry on my mark: three, two, one, mark. [00:11] Narrator: On November 26, 2018, the Insight mission arrived at Mars after a 6-month journey of over 300 million miles. Tom Hoffman is the project manager for the mission. Tom Hoffman: On landing day for InSight, I was in the Mission Control Center here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Being the project manager, I was sitting in the back. All the management from both JPL and NASA were sitting back there with me. And it was a little bit nerve-wracking because they’re all looking…

From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible. On episode 368, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide discusses how JAXA is contributing to NASA’s lunar space station, Gateway, and future Artemis missions. This episode was recorded on December 2, 2024. Transcript Host (Leah Cheshier): Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, episode…

A group of elementary-aged students gather outside of Oldham County Public Library in La Grange, Kentucky, United States to look at clouds in the sky. “If anyone asks what you are doing, tell them, ‘I am a citizen scientist and I am helping NASA,’” Children’s Programming Librarian, Cheri Grinnell, tells the kids. Grinnell supports an afterschool program called Leopard Spot where she engages K-5 students in collecting environmental data with the GLOBE (Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment) Program. “One little boy really got excited about that, and I heard him tell his mom he was working…

A crew of four research volunteers stepped inside NASA’s CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) habitat on Oct. 19, marking the start of the agency’s second 378-day simulated Mars mission. Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery, and James Spicer are living and working inside the roughly 1,700-square-foot 3D-printed habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston until Oct. 31, 2026. “The information and lessons learned through CHAPEA will inform real-life mission planning, vehicle and surface habitat designs, and other resources NASA needs to support crew health and performance as we venture beyond low-Earth orbit,” said Sara Whiting,…

The Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH) program collects, analyzes, and interprets medical, physiological, hazard exposure, and environmental data for the purpose of maintaining astronaut health and safety as well as preventing occupationally induced injuries or disease related to space flight or space flight training. It allows NASA to effectively understand and mitigate the long-term health risks of human spaceflight, as well as support the physical and mental well-being of astronauts during future exploration missions. The LSAH Newsletter serves to inform and update former astronauts on how their medical data is being utilized by the LSAH team. It is…

NARRATOR When Emma Nutt arrived at Edwin Holmes Telephone Despatch Company in Boston on Sept. 1, 1878, she became the first female telephone operator. Hours later, her sister Stella followed in her footsteps. Until then, teenaged boys worked the switchboards, large banks of metallic ports that connected users through the earliest telephone networks. These switchboards advanced the telephone from a direct link between two users to a network of interconnected subscribers who connect to each other through a central hub. But, sources report that the boys hired to run the earliest switchboards were notoriously rude and occasionally profane. Immature…

A conversation with Sharmila Bhattacharya, senior scientist in the Space Biosciences Research branch at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. Transcript Host: You’re listening to NASA in Silicon Valley, episode 84! This week our guest is Sharmila Bhattacharya, senior scientist in the Space Biosciences Research branch here at NASA Ames. Sharmila tells a great story about how and why NASA does biology research. A lot of that takes place on the International Space Station to understand how biology changes in microgravity. Coming up in 2019, Sharmila and others will take those studies farther than they’ve ever been before.…

Why don’t we go live on Saturn’s moon Titan? What would it mean if we found life elsewhere? How did life get its start on Earth? NASA’s chief scientist Jim Green and astrobiologist Lindsay Hays discuss these and other audience questions from social media. Jim Green:Is there life on Mars or Titan or Venus? Where would we go to look for life? We’re here to answer your burning questions about life in the universe. Jim Green: Hi, I’m Jim Green, chief scientist at NASA, and this is Gravity Assist. On this season of Gravity Assist we’re looking for life…

(music) [0:03] Aaron Cavosie: Pretty much every day on Earth is a day of Russian Roulette. There have been dramatic examples, such as the Chelyabinsk airburst that happened over Russia in 2013. [0:24] Paul Chodas: We’re getting close to 800,000 objects. And in fact, calculate absolutely everything in the solar system. So that’s pretty cool. [0:37] Marc Rayman: We weren’t out just exploring chunks of rock. Dawn explored two of the last uncharted worlds in the inner solar system. [0:48] Lindy Elkins-Tanton: Psyche is both the name of a metal asteroid in the outer asteroid belt, and it’s the…

From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible. On episode 369, three flight controllers from NASA’s Mission Control Center discuss how their consoles, ADCO, TOPO, and SPARTAN, keep the space station flying from the ground. Listen and find out what each console does! This episode was recorded on December 16, 2024. Transcript Host (Dane Turner): Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official…