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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Advanced Curation Systematic Imaging Documentation for OSIRIS-REX Sample Return Mission Physical ExaminationPhoto: NASA/Erika Blumenfeld & Joseph Aebersold The astromaterials curation team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston has completed the disassembly of the OSIRIS-REx sampler head to reveal the remainder of the asteroid Bennu sample inside. On Jan. 10, they successfully removed two stubborn fasteners that had prevented the final steps of opening the Touch-and-Go-Sample-Acquisition-Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. Erika Blumenfeld, creative lead for the Advanced Imaging and Visualization of Astromaterials (AIVA) and Joe Aebersold, AIVA project lead, captured th…
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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Alongside experts from academia and industry, leaders from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will be on hand at the Feb. 25–29 PowerSource Global Summit conference in Orlando. Dr. Christyl Johnson, Goddard’s deputy center director for technology and research investments, will deliver the conference’s keynote address on Feb. 26, sharing insights on space exploration developments as they relate to the 2024 summit’s theme: “Women in STEAM Powering the Metaverse.” “STEAM” adds “arts” to the “STEM” science, technology, engineering, and math acronym. Dr. Christyl Joh…
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NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Loral O’Hara scrubs spacesuit cooling loops in preparation for a round of spacewalks. NASA Students, staff, and researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and two local public schools in Boston will have an opportunity next week to hear from NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will air live at 9:55 a.m. EST Tuesday, Jan. 23, on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media. O’Hara will answer prerecorded questions from students at …
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The new year of 1969 dawned with optimism that NASA would meet President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. The previous year saw four Apollo missions, two uncrewed and two carrying three astronauts each, test different components of the lunar landing architecture, culminating with Apollo 8’s December flight around the Moon. Challenges remaining for the new year included testing the Lunar Module (LM) with a crew, first in Earth orbit, and then in lunar orbit, a flight that served as a dress rehearsal for the Moon landing that could take place on the following mission. With flights occurring every two months, engineer…
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2 min read Hubble Views a Galactic Supernova Site This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the small galaxy known as UGC 5189A. ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Filippenko This image features a relatively small galaxy known as UGC 5189A, which is located about 150 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. This galaxy was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study a supernova explosion in 2010 known as SN 2010jl. This particular supernova is notable because it was an exceptionally luminous supernova event. In fact, over a period of three years, SN 2010jl released at least 2.5 billion times more visible energy than our Sun emitted over the sa…
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Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), the third all private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, lifts off at 4:49 p.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 18, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA As part of NASA’s efforts to enable more access to space, four private astronauts are in orbit following the successful launch of the third all private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Axiom Space astronauts lifted off at 4:49 p.m. EST on Thursday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the company’s Dragon spacecraft carrying Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crew members Comman…
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This Hubble Picture of the Week features Arp 122, a peculiar galaxy that in fact comprises two galaxies — NGC 6040, the tilted, warped spiral galaxy and LEDA 59642, the round, face-on spiral — that are in the midst of a collision. This dramatic cosmic encounter is located at the very safe distance of roughly 570 million light-years from Earth.ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgement: L. Shatz This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features Arp 122, a peculiar galaxy that in fact comprises two galaxies – NGC 6040, the tilted, warped spiral galaxy and LEDA 59642, the round, face-on spiral – that are i…
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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA Glenn Research Center’s Spectrum Manager Wayne White, center, supports the U.S. Delegation at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference.Credit: International Telecommunications Union Reliable space communication and navigation systems are critical to every NASA mission. From the Voyager mission exploring beyond our solar system to astronauts aboard the International Space Station, space communications provide the crucial connection to our home planet. Without proper management of radio spectrum allocation and use, NASA’s ability to communicate with spacecraft and operate science ins…
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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Members of the Marine Corps Reserve (3rd Battalion, 25th Marine unit) stand in front of 10 boxes of toys donated by NASA Glenn Research Center employees. Credit: NASA/Bridget Caswell NASA’s Glenn Research Center continued a decades-long tradition of participating in the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program during the 2023 holiday season. On Dec. 11, members of the Marine Corps Reserve (3rd Battalion, 25th Marine unit) picked up 10 boxes of toys donated by employees from NASA Glenn’s Lewis Field in Cleveland and Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky. The Glenn Veterans Employee Res…
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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Two members of NASA Glenn Research Center’s senior leadership retired on Dec. 30, 2023. Timothy McCartney Credit: NASA Timothy P. McCartney, director of Aeronautics, retired with 38 1/2 years of NASA service. He was responsible for the project management, workforce planning, budget oversight, and executive leadership of NASA Glenn’s aeronautics research and development activities in support of the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission. Dr. Ajay Misra Credit: NASA Dr. Ajay Misra, deputy director of Research and Engineering, retired with 29 years of NASA service. H…
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7 Min Read Monitoring Microorganisms iss070e049644 (Dec. 30, 2023) — A set of the International Space Station's main solar arrays, slightly obscuring the smaller roll-out solar arrays, and the Kibo laboratory module with its exposed facility, a research platform that hosts external experiments, are pictured 261 miles above the Pacific Ocean. Credits: NASA Science in Space January 2024 Crew members on the International Space Station have a lot of company – millions of bacteria and other microbes. The human body contain…
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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Dr. Darayas Patel (left), professor of mathematics and computer science at Oakwood University, and four Oakwood University students record data related to their NASA STTR research.Oakwood University Transitioning cutting-edge research from the lab to life-changing technology in the market is no easy feat and the cost of failure is high, especially for small businesses. One of the ways NASA helps is through its Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which supports small businesses, and their research institution partners during early-stage research and development on a range of t…
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Overview As NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation approaches retirement, partnerships with commercial industry will play a critical role in the development of future space communications and navigation architecture. Over the next decade, NASA missions will transition towards adopting commercial space-based relay services to fulfil their near-Earth communications needs. The Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program is working to ensure that future missions will continue to have reliable, resilient space and ground communications and navigation infrastructure. Wideband polylingual terminals could become a key technology supportin…
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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA completed a …
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5 min read Laser Instrument on NASA’s LRO Successfully ‘Pings’ Indian Moon Lander For the first time at the Moon, a laser beam was transmitted and reflected between an orbiting NASA spacecraft and an Oreo-sized device on ISRO’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) Vikram lander on the lunar surface. The successful experiment opens the door to a new style of precisely locating targets on the Moon’s surface. At 3 p.m. EST on Dec. 12, 2023, NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) pointed its laser altimeter instrument toward Vikram. The lander was 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, away from LRO, near Manzinus crater in the Moon’s South Pole region, when LRO transmitted las…
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28 Min Read The Marshall Star for January 17, 2024 ‘Be King’: Team Redstone Invites All to Honor Civil Rights Icon’s Legacy By Jessica Barnett Several accomplished speakers took to the stage Jan. 11 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to share how Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy helped shape their lives. The event was hosted by Marshall’s ODEO (Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity), along with the FBI and U.S. Army, in the center’s Activities Building 4316 as a way of honoring King, a minister and activist from Atlanta who rose to national prominence as a key…
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The four crew members representing NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station pose for an official portrait at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA will host a pair of news conferences Thursday, Jan. 25, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to highlight upcoming crew rotation missions to the International Space Station. A mission overview news conference will begin at 1 p.m. EST and cover NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the microgravity laboratory and Expeditions 70/71. A crew news conference will start at 2:30 p.m., followed by individual astronaut interviews at 3:30 p.m. Both news conferences will be available on…
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NASA/Lauren Dauphin and Wanmei Liang; NOAA The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite sensor on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of the aurora borealis, or northern lights, over western Canada at 3:23 a.m. MST (5:23 a.m. EST) on November 5, 2023. Auroras are colorful ribbons of light appearing in night skies, incited by a strong geomagnetic storm in Earth’s magnetosphere. Multiple coronal mass ejections from the Sun sent a surge of charged particles toward Earth. After colliding with Earth’s magnetosphere, some particles trapped in the magnetic field are accelerated into Earth’s upper atmosphere where they excite nitrogen and oxygen molecules…
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Research engineer Christine Gregg inspects a Mobile Metamaterial Internal Co-Integrator (MMIC-I) builder robot. These simple robots are part of a hardware and software system NASA researchers are developing to autonomously build and maintain high-performance large space structures comprised of building blocks. MMIC-I works by climbing though the interior space of building blocks and bolting them to the rest of the structure during a build or unbolting during disassembly.NASA/Dominic Hart If they build it, we will go – for the long-term. Future long-duration and deep-space exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond will require a way to build large-scale infr…
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NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 3 and 24, 2004, respectively. This image shows a view Opportunity captured of its own shadow on July 26 of that year, the 180th Martian day, or sol, of its mission.NASA/JPL-Caltech This month marks the 20th anniversary of Spirit and Opportunity’s landing on Mars, part of a mission whose legacy will extend far into the future. In January 2004, twin NASA rovers named Spirit and Opportunity touched down on opposite sides of Mars, kicking off a new era of interplanetary robotic exploration. They arrived in dramatic fashion three weeks apart, each nestled in a cluster of airbags that bounced along…
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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) awaits its flight on a scientific balloon with a picturesque view of Antarctica’s Mount Erebus in the distance. GUSTO successfully launched Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. local time (Dec. 31, 1:30 a.m. EST) and remains in flight.NASA/Scott Battaion High above the icy landscape of Earth’s southernmost continent, the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) scientific balloon mission has been afloat for more than 15 days since its launch from McMurdo, Antarctica, on Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. local time (De…
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Jakobshavn Isbrae, a glacier on Greenland’s western coast, is shown in imagery taken on Sept. 5, 1985, by the Landsat 5 satellite. Jakobshavn receded from 1985 to 2022, losing about 97 billion tons (88 billion metric tons) of ice, a recent study of the Greenland Ice Sheet’s glacial retreat found.NASA/USGS A Landsat 8 image from Sept. 4, 2022, shows Jakobshavn Isbrae breaking at its edge. A recent study found that from 1985 to 2022 the Greenland Ice Sheet shed about 1,140 billion tons (1,034 billion metric tons) – one-fifth more mass than previously estimated.NASA/USGS …
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Name: Michael Thorpe Title: Sedimentary and Planetary Geologist Organization: Planetary Environments Laboratory, Science Directorate (Code 699) Sedimentary and planetary geologist Dr. Michael Thorpe studies sediments’ journey from mountains to downstream lakes, both on Earth and on Mars. Photo Courtesy of Iceland Space Agency / Daniel Leeb What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? As a sedimentary and planetary geologist, my research focuses on how sediments are transformed from the mountains to the lakes downstream, which is a process called source to sink. I study this phenome…
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Sometimes, stars can be stripped away from globular clusters as they orbit a massive galaxy. Researchers have identified several instances in our own Milky Way galaxy – and they’ve also spotted gaps between these looping tendrils. What caused those gaps? One possibility: a substance known as dark matter. Following the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, astronomers will use its vast, high-definition images to spot many more tidal streams – and potentially their accompanying gaps – in nearby galaxies for the first time. A prime candidate is our neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, which appears in the illustration above. Soon, not only will researchers be able to i…
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5 Min Read Webb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards Researchers are analyzing distant galaxies when the universe was only 600 million to 6 billion years old. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, Steve Finkelstein (UT Austin), Micaela Bagley (UT Austin), Rebecca Larson (UT Austin) Researchers analyzing images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found that galaxies in the early universe are often flat and elongated, like surfboards and pool noodles – and are rarely round, like volleyballs or frisbee…
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