Category: Space

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a first of its kind: a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding beyond the next in precisely the same pattern. (The fourth is almost transparent, at the edges of Webb’s image.) Observations taken prior to Webb only detected one shell, and while the existence of outer shells was hypothesized, searches using ground-based telescopes were unable to uncover any. These shells were emitted over the last 700 years by two aging Wolf-Rayet stars in a system known as Apep, a nod to the Egyptian god…

NASA brought the excitement of space exploration to the Minnesota State Fair from Aug. 21–24, offering exhibits and interactive experiences for the whole family. Led by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the agency showcased the future of space exploration and the technologies making it possible — from next-generation spacesuits to the Artemis missions that will return humans to the Moon.  A major attraction was Glenn’s “Suits and Boots” exhibit, along with an Apollo 15 Moon rock, which drew large crowds to the North End Event Center. Glenn staff, joined by Mike Lammers, deputy chief of the Flight Director’s…

As NASA’s one-of-a-kind X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft approaches first flight, its team is mapping every step from taxi and takeoff to cruising and landing – and their decision-making is guided by safety. First flight will be a lower-altitude loop at about 240 mph to check system integration, kicking off a phase of flight testing focused on verifying the aircraft’s airworthiness and safety. During subsequent test flights, the X-59 will go higher and faster, eventually exceeding the speed of sound. The aircraft is designed to fly supersonic while generating a quiet thump rather than a loud sonic boom. To…

As part of the agency’s Artemis campaign, NASA has awarded Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, a CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) task order with an option to deliver a rover to the Moon’s South Pole region. NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) will search for volatile resources, such as ice, on the lunar surface and collect science data to support future exploration at the Moon and Mars. “NASA is leading the world in exploring more of the Moon than ever before, and this delivery is just one of many ways we’re leveraging U.S. industry to support a long-term…

Derrol Nail: When instrumentation controller JoAnn Morgan was in Firing Room number One for the historic moonshot in 1969, she was the only woman. NASA has come a long way since. Today, the very same firing room is led by a woman, and 30% of the engineers supporting NASA’s Artemis Moon program are women, too. So, what’s it like to be a woman with a career in STEM today? We’ll sit down with three female employees at NASA to find out. I’m Derrol Nail and that’s next on The Rocket Ranch. Launch Countdown Sequence: EGS Program Chief Engineer, verify…

Audio collage begins. LISA LAMB We have kind of a family story that we like to tell… How did… this little education institution, in the – you know – rural, high desert, Southern California get connected with NASA. BOB HAROLDSSON They get the teachers and in schools and stuff plugged in, and they actually operate one of our antennas and gather science. And that’s pretty cool. STEVE LEVIN Students are learning science by doing real science. JENNIFER WEIS I really liked… being able to operate the radio telescope. Usually, you hear scientists with big names doing big things like…

In this episode we talk about how we’re developing new tools to search for life on Mars. Source link

The world will get a first glimpse of the universe as never before when the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope come out on July 12. And this is only the beginning — the telescope will deliver all kinds of insights about galaxies, planets, and more, for years to come. But someone has to translate that data into beautiful imagery, especially since Webb collects light that falls outside of human vision. That’s where Joe DePasquale of the Space Telescope Science Institute comes in. Learn how he makes choices about color and other aspects of space images in…

Meet the scientists who are making big discoveries by studying some very tiny rocks. The women of NASA’s Mid-Atlantic Noble Gas Research Laboratory (MNGRL) are getting ready to analyze never-before-seen Moon samples. These samples, collected by Apollo astronauts and brought back to Earth, have been carefully preserved for half a century so they could be studied by future generations of scientists. Sophie, a 13-year-old from Athens, Greece, shares how lunar exploration inspires her to become an astrophysicist. [MUSIC: ROSEVERE / “INTERVENTION”] NATALIE: There are still so many questions locked up inside these rocks that it’s exciting times just to…

NOELIA GONZÁLEZ: Imagina esta escena: la Tierra gira en el espacio, y orbita alrededor del Sol. Pero no es el mundo que conocemos ahora, sino uno drásticamente distinto: estamos hablando de una Tierra bebé, hace 4.500 millones de años. NOELIA GONZÁLEZ: Y la Luna no existe.  NOELIA GONZÁLEZ: De repente, un cuerpo celeste, más o menos del tamaño de Marte, colisiona contra esa Tierra primigenia. NOELIA GONZÁLEZ: Los escombros de ese choque épico son lanzados en órbita alrededor del planeta.  [Música Gold Standard, por Hoo] NOELIA GONZÁLEZ: La gravedad se encarga del resto: los va uniendo, y un cuerpo celestial…

Transcript Narrator: How do NASA rovers power themselves on Mars? (music) Narrator: The two main options are solar and nuclear energy. NASA’s first three Mars rovers – Sojourner, Spirit, and Opportunity – used solar panels to gather light energy, or photons, from the Sun. The rovers exploring Mars today – Curiosity and Perseverance – use a system called a “Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator,” or RTG. Sabah Bux: Yeah, because here on Earth we can plug in. On Mars, we have nowhere to plug in. Narrator:That’s Sabah Bux, a technologist based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Sabah Bux:…

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 401, NASA Artemis II launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson shares her path to the console and what it takes to launch the first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon. This episode was recorded August 19, 2025. Transcript Joseph Zakrzewski Houston We Have a Podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space…

Brian Alpert’s path was always destined for the aerospace industry, but his journey turned toward NASA’s Johnson Space Center during his sophomore year in college. That was when Tricia Mack, who works in NASA’s Transportation Integration Office within the International Space Station Program, spoke to his aerospace seminar about planning spacewalks, training crews, and supporting operations from the Mission Control Center in Houston. Alpert was inspired to join the agency and later earned a spot as an engineering co-op student at Johnson. “My first stop after new employee orientation was Tricia’s office,” he said. Eighteen years later, Alpert is…

In 2025, NASA and its international partners celebrate 25 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station. Since November 2, 2000, more than 290 people from 26 countries have lived and worked aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting thousands of experiments that have advanced science and technology on Earth and paved the way for Artemis missions to the Moon and future journeys to Mars.  Beyond its role as a science platform, the station has been a bridge—connecting cultures, sparking creativity, and inspiring generations. The memories of Johnson Space Center employees reflect how the orbiting laboratory is not only…

NASA and its partners recently tested a tool for remotely piloted operations that could enable operators to transport people and goods more efficiently within urban areas.   The team’s goal is to ensure that when these remotely piloted aircraft – including electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) – take to the skies, air traffic controllers won’t be overburdened by increased flight operations and safety is maintained across the national airspace.  On Aug. 21, NASA’s Air Traffic Management eXploration Project (ATM-X) assisted Wisk Aero when they flew a Bell 206 helicopter in Hollister, California. The purpose of the flight test…

Driving rapid innovation in the American space industry, NASA has awarded Katalyst Space Technologies of Flagstaff, Arizona, a contract to raise a spacecraft’s orbit. Katalyst’s robotic servicing spacecraft will rendezvous with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and raise it to a higher altitude, demonstrating a key capability for the future of space exploration and extending the Swift mission’s science lifetime. NASA’s Swift launched in 2004 to explore the universe’s most powerful explosions, called gamma-ray bursts. The spacecraft’s low Earth orbit has been decaying gradually, which happens to satellites over time. However, because of recent increases in the Sun’s activity,…

For Melissa John, protecting the environment is her way of contributing to space exploration while preserving the Earth we call home.   As the sustainability program lead at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, John manages efforts to reduce waste, prevent pollution, and promote eco-conscious practices. Over the past 13 years, she has helped shape a workplace culture that values innovation and environmental responsibility.  Melissa John Sustainability Program Lead Through awareness campaigns and outreach events, John empowers employees to be mindful of their environmental impact. Whether she is fostering grassroots connections, leading hands-on events, or recognizing…

UPDATE July 19, 2025 – The SNIFS payload was successfully launched on July 18, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. EDT from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. A NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket carried the payload to an altitude of 215 miles (346 kilometers) before descending by parachute for recovery at White Sands. Preliminary reports show that all systems performed as planned and good data was received. July will see the launch of the groundbreaking Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph mission, or SNIFS. Delivered to space via a Black Brant IX sounding rocket, SNIFS will explore the energy…

As part of NASA’s efforts to expand commercial resupply in low Earth orbit, Sierra Space’s uncrewed spaceplane arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its first flight to the International Space Station.  The Dream Chaser spaceplane, named Tenacity, arrived at Kennedy on May 18 inside a climate-controlled transportation container from NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, and joined its companion Shooting Star cargo module, which arrived on May 11.  Before arriving at Kennedy, the spaceplane and its cargo module underwent vibration testing atop the world’s highest capacity and most powerful spacecraft shaker system inside the agency’s…

Just after sunrise, the waning gibbous moon sets just behind a waving United States flag on March 19, 2025, in this image from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The waning gibbous moon phase comes after the full moon. As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the opposite side of the Moon now reflects the Moon’s light. The lighted side appears to shrink, but the Moon’s orbit is simply carrying it out of view from our perspective. The Moon also rises later and later each night. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker Source link

FAIRMONT – Competitive Robotics in West Virginia has reached an all-time high with more teams across the state than ever before. The West Virginia Robotics Alliance, managed by the Education Resource Center (ERC) team at the NASA Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility, released new data for the 2023-24 Robotics Season that shows a peak in the number of teams and steady growth over the last several years. “The ERC assumed management of the FIRST LEGO League tournament in 2011 when we had barely 50 teams in West Virginia,” ERC Program Manager Dr. Todd Ensign said. “Today, there are over 550…

Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí. Earth’s average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis led by NASA scientists. Global temperatures in 2024 were 2.30 degrees Fahrenheit (1.28 degrees Celsius) above the agency’s 20th-century baseline (1951-1980), which tops the record set in 2023. The new record comes after 15 consecutive months (June 2023 through August 2024) of monthly temperature records — an unprecedented heat streak. “Once again, the temperature record has been shattered — 2024 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Between record…

NASA has selected Bastion Technologies Inc. of Houston to provide safety and mission assurance services for the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Safety and Mission Assurance II (SMAS II) award is a performance-based, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a maximum potential value of $400 million. A phase-in period begins Monday, followed by a base ordering period of four years with options to extend services through March 2034. Under the contract, Bastion will provide services for a wide range of activities including system safety, reliability, maintainability, software assurance, quality engineering and assurance, independent assessment, institutional safety, and pressure…

By Savannah Bullard One year after winning second place in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, members of the small business Starpath visited NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and…