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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New experiments aboard NASA’s Northrop Grumman 21st cargo resupply mission aim to pioneer scientific discoveries in microgravity on the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, filled with nearly 8,500 pounds of supplies, launched Aug. 3 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Biological and physical investigations aboard the spacecraft included experiments studying the impacts of microgravity on plants (grass), how packed bed reactors could improve water purification both in space and on Earth, and observations on new rounds of samples that will allow scientists to learn more…
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4 Min Read Lagniappe for August 2024 Explore the August 2024 issue, highlighting the announcement of the new NASA Stennis Deputy Director, the successful SLS (Space Launch System) core stage rollout for Artemis II, NASA’s participation at Essence, and more! Explore Lagniappe for August 2024 featuring: NASA’s Stennis Space Center Announces New Deputy Director NASA Inspires at 2024 ESSENCE Fest in New Orleans NASA Stennis Flashback Gator Speaks The roll out of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) Artemis II core stage from NASA’s Michoud …
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Kim Johnson supports NASA’s mission as a contracting officer at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA employee Kim Johnson’s desire for growth has taken her many places and continues unabated at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The D’Iberville, Mississippi, resident is a contracting officer in the NASA Stennis Office of Procurement, where she supports NASA’s mission at the largest rocket propulsion test site. Johnson oversees natural gas company contracts providing fuel to parts of the NASA Stennis federal city infrastructure, including the test stands benefitting NASA and commercial aeros…
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Christine Powell, Stennis Space Center Deputy DirectorNASA/Stennis NASA’s Stennis Space Center Director John Bailey announced Aug. 2 that longtime propulsion engineer/manager Christine Powell has been selected as deputy director of the south Mississippi propulsion site, effective Aug. 12. “I am excited for Christine to join the NASA Stennis executive team,” Bailey said. “She has deep and proven experience and expertise in propulsion testing and management. She also has served in a range of leadership positions here at NASA Stennis, making her uniquely qualified to help us innovate and grow into the future.” Powell currently serves as manager of NASA Rocket Propu…
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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) As chief of test operations at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Maury Vander has been involved in some long-duration propulsion hot fires – but he still struggles to describe a pair of 34-minute space shuttle main engine tests conducted onsite in August 1988. “When you stop and think about it, …” Vander begins, then pauses. “In 34 minutes, I can leave work and drive home to Slidell (15-20 miles west in Louisiana) and be relaxing in my recliner in that amount of time.” Vander’s struggle is understandable when one considers the numbers. On Aug. 3 and Aug. 15, operators at the Thad Cochran …
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6 Min Read NASA Trains Machine Learning Algorithm for Mars Sample Analysis The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, aboard the ExoMars mission's Rosalind Franklin rover, will employ a machine learning algorithm to speed up specimen analysis. Credits: ESA When the ESA (European Space Agency)-led Rosalind Franklin rover heads to Mars no earlier than 2028, a NASA machine learning algorithm gets its first chance to shine after more than a decade of data training in the lab. The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA), a mass sp…
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To enable deep space missions, the capability to transfer and store cryogenic fuels (typically liquid hydrogen, methane, and oxygen) without significant leakage over long duration missions is critical. NASA has been actively developing zero boil-off cryocooler technology to reduce storage losses. Another source of fuel loss is from leakage at the fuel disconnect used for in-space refueling. Current designs use fluoroelastomer seals which are excellent for applications such as natural gas but are susceptible to embrittlement at the lower temperatures required for liquid hydrogen. In addition, the high contact forces needed to reduce leakage can cause cracking of the seals.…
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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) An artist’s concept of the X-66 aircraft Boeing will produce through NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. The aircraft, designed to prove the concept of more aerodynamic, fuel-efficient transonic truss-braced wings, is an example of the type of project model-based systems analysis and engineering will provide benefits to.Boeing As NASA continues cutting-edge aeronautics research, the agency also is taking steps to make sure the benefits from these diverse technologies are greater than the sum of their parts. To tackle that challenge, NASA is using Model-Based Systems Analysis…
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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft for the company’s 21st commercial resupply services mission for NASA launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.Credit: NASA Following a successful launch of NASA’s Northrop Grumman 21st commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and cargo for the agency are bound for the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, carrying more than 8,200 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 11:02 a.m. EDT Sunday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florid…
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NASA/Kim Shiflett Teams transport NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) core stage into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 24, 2024. Tugboats and towing vessels moved the Pegasus barge and 212-foot-long core stage 900-miles to the Florida spaceport from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it was manufactured and assembled. In the coming months, teams will integrate the rocket core stage atop the mobile launcher with the additional Artemis II flight hardware, including the twin solid rocket boosters, launch vehicle stage adapter, and the Orion spacecraft. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s fi…
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Lee esta entrevista en español aquí Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana would look up at the sky and marvel at the immensity of space when she was younger. Now, the bounds are limitless as she helps NASA explore the expansive universe by computing the trajectories and maneuvers to get a spacecraft into space. Name: Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana Title: Astrodynamics and solar radiation pressure specialist, Formal Job Classification: Scientific collaborator Organization Navigation and Mission Design Branch (Code 595) Dr. Ariadna Farrés-Basiana is an astrodynamics and solar radiation pressure specialist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Photo cour…
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Each Aug. 4, Coast Guard Day commemorates the founding on Aug. 4, 1790, of the U.S. Coast Guard as the Revenue-Marine by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Although considered an internal event for active duty and reserve Coast Guard members, we take the opportunity of Coast Guard Day to honor the astronauts who began their careers in the Coast Guard. To date, NASA has selected three astronauts who served in the Coast Guard: Bruce E. Melnick in 1987, Daniel C. Burbank in 1996, and Andre Douglas in 2021. While Melnick and Burbank have retired from NASA, the decades long relationship between the agency and the Coast Guard carries on with Douglas. Left: Coas…
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The Cabeus supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley NASA/Michelle Moyer Under a new agreement, NASA will host supercomputing resources for the University of California, Berkeley, at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The agreement is part of an expanding partnership between Ames and UC Berkeley and will support the development of novel computing algorithms and software for a wide variety of scientific and technology areas. Per the three-year Reimbursable Space Act Agreement, the UC Berkeley supercomputer and storage systems will be hosted at the NASA Advanc…
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20 Min Read MESSENGER – From Setbacks to Success This view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission. Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington The excerpts below are taken from Discovery Program oral history interviews conducted in 2009 by Dr. Susan Niebur and tell the story of the hurdles the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission team faced with…
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NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge directly supports the agency’s Moon to Mars initiatives.Credit: NASA NASA invites the media and public to explore the nexus of space and food innovation at the agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge symposium and winners’ announcement at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Aug. 16. In 2019, NASA and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) started the Deep Space Food Challenge, a multi-year international effort to develop sustainable food systems for long-duration habitation in space including the Moon and Mars. Since Phase 1 of the challenge opened in 2021, more than 300 teams from 32 countries have deve…
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5 min read NASA Scientists on Why We Might Not Spot Solar Panel Technosignatures One of NASA’s key priorities is understanding the potential for life elsewhere in the universe. NASA has not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial life — but NASA is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions, including whether we are alone in the universe. For those who study the potential for life beyond Earth, one of the questions has long been trying to determine the likelihood of microbial life versus complex life versus a civilization so advanced that we can spot signs of it, called technosignatures, from here at home. Studying the answe…
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“When I was around 16 or 17, I came across this book by Arthur C. Clarke called Space Odyssey 2001. That was actually the first science fiction book that I’ve ever read. I was just so captured by what he had written because the things that he wrote about weren’t [happening] in the far-off future, but in the year 2001. In the book, he talks about a lot about space stations, and space shuttles that go up to the space station, and vehicles that go to the Moon or the Moon base, and all that. I mean, these are terms that you hear now all the time, right? And Arthur C. Clarke actually envisioned it at that time. So that was interesting to me. I hoped that someday I could work o…
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2 min read Hubble Spies a Diminutive Galaxy This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the dwarf elliptical galaxy named IC 3430. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the subtle glow of the galaxy named IC 3430, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This dwarf elliptical galaxy is part of the Virgo cluster, a rich collection of galaxies both large and small, many of which are very similar in type to this diminutive galaxy. Like its larger elliptical cousins, IC 3430 has a smooth, oval shape lacking any recognizable features like arms or bars, and is missing much of the gas needed to form many new stars. Int…
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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members (pictured from left to right) NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya OnishiCredit: NASA As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, four crew members are preparing to launch for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov will join astronauts at the orbiting laboratory no earlier than February 2025. …
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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition.Credit: National Institute of Aerospace NASA has officially announced the 2025 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition, an initiative to fuel innovation for aerospace systems concepts, analogs, and technology prototyping through university engagement. RASC-AL, one of NASA’s longest-running student competitions, solicits concepts from the next generation of engineers and scientists to explore the future of deep space exploration. …
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NASA/Michala Garrison, USGS Landsat 9’s Operational Land Imager-2 captured this image of the open pits and ponds of Telfer Mine and the surrounding rust-colored soil on Dec. 15, 2023. The soils have a reddish tint from the iron oxides that have accumulated from millions of years of weathering. This part of Western Australia is known for being rich in natural resources, including petroleum, iron ore, copper, and certain precious metals. Beneath the soils, veins of gold and silver run through sedimentary rocks, such as quartz sandstone and siltstone, that formed about 600 million years ago, when much of Australia was under water. Text credit: Emily Cassidy Image c…
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5 Min Read NASA Additive Manufacturing Project Shapes Future for Agency, Industry Rocket Makers Additively manufactured rocket engine hardware coupled with advanced composites allows for precision features, such as multi-material coolant channels developed by the Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology team at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama Credits: NASA The widespread commercial adoption of additive manufacturing technologies, commonly known as 3D printing, is no surprise to de…
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2 min read August’s Night Sky Notes: Seeing Double by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific During the summer months, we tend to miss the views of Saturn, Jupiter and other heavenly bodies. But it can be a great time to look for other items, like globular star clusters such as Messier 13, open star clusters such as the Coma Star Cluster (Melotte 111), but also double stars! Mid-August night sky constellations with the following multiple star systems highlighted: the Double Double in Lyra, Albireo in Cygnus, Polaris in Ursa Minor, Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major. Credit: Stellarium Web What Are Double Stars? If you have seen any m…
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Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read Sols 4261-4262: Drill Sol 1…Take 2 This image was taken by Right Navigation Ca…
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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A new era of aviation is here, and NASA’s System-Wide Safety (SWS) project is developing innovative data solutions to assure safe, rapid, and repeatable access to a transformed National Airspace System (NAS). SWS was created in 2018 and is part of NASA Aeronautics’ Airspace Operations and Safety Program. SWS evaluates how the aerospace industry and aircraft modernization impacts safety by using technology to address future operational and design risks. SWS Goals To explore, discover, and understand the impact on safety of growing complexity introduced by modernization aimed at im…
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