Science and Technology News
Update on Opportunity Rover Recovery Efforts Updated at 4 p.m. PDT on Oct. 29, 2018 After a review of the progress of the listening campaign, NASA will continue its current strategy for attempting to make contact with the Opportunity rover for the foreseeable future. Winds could increase in the next few months at Opportunity’s […]
NASA Launches a New Podcast to Mars NASA has a new mission to Mars, and it’s taking podcast listeners along for the ride. Launching today, the eight-episode series “On a Mission” follows the InSight lander as it travels hundreds of millions of miles and attempts to land on Mars on Nov. 26. “On a […]
Parker Solar Probe Breaks Record, Becomes Closest Spacecraft to Sun Parker Solar Probe now holds the record for closest approach to the Sun by a human-made object. The spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun’s surface on Oct. 29, 2018, at about 1:04 p.m. EDT, as calculated by the […]
NASA Retires Kepler Space Telescope, Passes Planet-Hunting Torch After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets – more planets even than stars – NASA’s Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations. NASA has decided to retire […]
Mars 2020 Parachute a Go In the early hours of Sept. 7, NASA broke a world record. Less than 2 minutes after the launch of a 58-foot-tall (17.7-meter) Black Brant IX sounding rocket, a payload separated and began its dive back through Earth’s atmosphere. When onboard sensors determined the payload had reached the appropriate […]
You don’t need wheels to explore Mars. After touching down in November, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will spread its solar panels, unfold a robotic arm … and stay put. Unlike the space agency’s rovers, InSight is a lander designed to study an entire planet from just one spot. This sedentary science allows InSight to detect geophysical […]
Oct. 24 Update: On the evening of October 21, Chandra returned to science observations after the team successfully carried out a procedure to enable a new gyroscope configuration for the spacecraft. The team initiated a set of maneuvers to change the pointing and orientation of the spacecraft to confirm that the gyroscopes were behaving as […]
Massive structures of moving air that appear like waves in Jupiter’s atmosphere were first detected by NASA’s Voyager missions during their flybys of the gas-giant world in 1979. The JunoCam camera aboard NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter has also imaged the atmosphere. JunoCam data has detected atmospheric wave trains, towering atmospheric structures that trail one […]
NASA is inviting media to attend a two-day Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge Industry Day beginning at 8 a.m. PDT Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront. The event is sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s (ARMD). Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is defined as a safe and efficient system for passenger and cargo […]
NASA’s upcoming landing of the first-ever mission to study the heart of Mars will be the topic of a media briefing at 1:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 31 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The briefing will air live on NASA Television, the agency’s website and the NASA InSight Facebook page. Did you know you can […]
The planets so far discovered across the Milky Way are a motley, teeming multitude: hot Jupiters, gas giants, small, rocky worlds and mysterious planets larger than Earth and smaller than Neptune. As we prepare to add many thousands more to the thousands found already, the search goes on for evidence of life – and for […]
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Starts Asteroid Operations Campaign (Update: 24 August 2018) NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) was launched on September 8m 2016, and last week the probe captured the first glimpse of asteroid Bennu from a distance of about 1.4 million miles while beginning its final approach toward […]
NASA has awarded the Aircraft Maintenance, Logistics, Integration, Configuration Management and Engineering (ALICE) contract to Yulista Tactical Services based in Huntsville, Alabama. The base period for the contract will be 18 months, starting March 1, 2018. After completion of 18-month base period, the contract offers a one-year option and a 15-month option. The total maximum […]
NASA will announce the finalist concepts for its future solar system mission during a media teleconference on Wednesday, December 20, 2017. According to the space agency, this robotic mission is targeted to be launched in mid-2020s and aims to explore the solar system. This mission would be the fourth in NASA’s New Frontiers portfolio. So […]
An ancient Martian lake could have harbored a variety of microbial life around 3.5 billion years ago, a new study has suggested. Scientists analyzed rocks from the Gale crater to reach their conclusion. Gale crater is a 96 mile wide depression that was once a vast lake. This site, according to scientists, is just perfect […]
NASA scientists have found evidence of frost on Earth’s moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, helped scientists find this evidence by identifying bright areas in craters near south pole of the moon. According to scientists, these areas are so cold that could be having frost present on the surface. In their research, scientists analyzed […]
NASA has planned a spacewalk for astronauts on International Space Station (ISS) to replace failed data relay box outside space station. NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Shane Kimbrough had installed this multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) device on March 30 during her spacewalk. Shane Kimbrough, then-flight engineer, has now returned to Earth. Tuesday’s spacewalk repair will be accomplished […]
NASA has revealed its plan to send a next-generation atomic clock into space later this year. The Deep Space Atomic Clock has been developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with an aim to assist in safe navigation of spacecraft during future deep space missions. According to NASA, the new atomic clock is the most advanced […]
NASA has announced that it has found the India’s lost lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 that is still orbiting the moon. Chandrayaan-1 was launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on October 22, 2008 from the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota, about 100 km from Chennai. The spacecraft was launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) […]
NASA has released a bunch of its software for public to download for free. This 2017-2018 software catalogue is being offered as part of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program, and comes without any royalty or copyright fees. Many of the software being provided in 2017-2018 catalogue are the ones still used by NASA to explore space […]
Last week, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully completed its fourth flyby of Jupiter and later sent some new stunning pictures of white oval storms and cyclone swirls on the planet. The new image clearly shows the cyclone swirls around the south polar region of Jupiter, and white oval storms near the edge of the planet. Juno’s […]
NASA has developed a new technique to aid scientists in their search for life on other planets. The new technique works by analyzing amino acids—the structural building blocks of life on Earth. According to NASA, the new technique is 10,000 times more sensitive than the method currently used by Mars Curiosity rover. The new technique […]
A new study conducted by NASA suggests that space travel may cause changes in genes and other biological markers in astronauts. NASA scientists used Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly—two American astronauts and also identical twin brothers—in this study and observed genetic differences in them after completion of Scott Kelly’s space travel. In 2015–16, American astronaut […]
NASA has a released a new image of Jupiter captured on Dec 11, 2016 by JunoCam imager on NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The image has been processed by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstaedt and John Rogers. The caption of the image was also drafted by them. NASA posts JunoCam’s raw images at www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam to allow the public […]
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