NASA"s Perseverance rover collects two samples of Martian regolith
NASA's Perseverance rover snagged two new samples from the Martian surface on Dec. 2 and 6. But unlike the 15 rock cores collected to date, these newest samples came from a pile of wind-blown sand and dust similar to but smaller than a dune. Now cont.....»»
Research team resolves decades-long problem in microscopy
When viewing biological samples with a microscope, the light beam is disturbed if the lens of the objective is in a different medium than the sample. For example, when looking at a watery sample with a lens surrounded by air, the light rays bend more.....»»
NASA"s Juno gives aerial views of mountain and lava lake on Io
Scientists on NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter have transformed data collected during two recent flybys of Io into animations that highlight two of the Jovian moon's most dramatic features: a mountain and an almost glass-smooth lake of cooling lava. Ot.....»»
NASA gives green light to mission to send car-sized drone to Saturn moon
NASA’s Mars helicopter mission is now officially over, but following it is an even more complex flying machine destined to explore Saturn’s largest moon......»»
NASA chief warns of Chinese military presence in space
China is bolstering its space capabilities and is using its civilian program to mask its military objectives, the head of the US space agency NASA said Wednesday, warning that Washington must remain vigilant......»»
NASA green-lights mission to send car-sized drone to Saturn moon
NASA’s Mars helicopter mission is now officially over, but following it is an even more complex flying machine destined to explore Saturn’s largest moon......»»
Final communications sent to the beloved Ingenuity Mars helicopter
NASA's hugely successful Mars helicopter Ingenuity will continue saving data in case future explorers should come this way again......»»
NASA"s Roman space telescope"s "eyes" pass first vision test
Engineers at L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, have combined all 10 mirrors for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Preliminary tests show the newly aligned optics, collectively called the IOA (Imaging Optics Assembly), will direct.....»»
NASA to hoist its sail: Solar sail mission gets ready for launch
A NASA mission testing a new way of navigating our solar system is ready to hoist its sail into space—not to catch the wind, but the propulsive power of sunlight. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is targeting launch on Tuesday, April 23 (We.....»»
Astronauts to patch up NASA"s NICER telescope
NASA is planning to repair NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station, during a spacewalk later this year. It will be the fourth science observatory in orbit serviced by astronauts......»»
NASA needs a new approach for its challenging Mars Sample Return mission
NASA is seeking new ideas for its Mars Sample Return mission after admitting that its previous plan to bring samples from Mars back to Earth was too ambitious......»»
NASA"s near space network enables PACE climate mission to "phone home"
The PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission has delivered its first operational data back to researchers, a feat made possible in part by innovative, data-storing technology from NASA's Near Space Network, which introduced two key en.....»»
NASA"s Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn"s moon Titan confirmed
NASA has confirmed its Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn's organic-rich moon Titan. The decision allows the mission to progress to the completion of the final design, followed by the construction and testing of the entire spacecraft and science.....»»
A chunk of metal that tore through a Florida home definitely came from the ISS
"I don't think I've seen or heard, after my own research, any of these events occurring." NASA has confirmed that the object that fell into a Florida home last month was part of a battery pack released from the International Space St.....»»
The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth—and governments are on the hook
A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a man's home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station......»»
NASA Goddard to build quake detector for Artemis III moon landing
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will build a moonquake detector for astronauts to deploy on the moon in 2026 during the Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than.....»»
NASA"s Ingenuity Mars helicopter team says goodbye—for now
The final downlink shift by the Ingenuity team was a time to reflect on a highly successful mission—and to prepare the first aircraft on another world for its new role......»»
NASA observations find what helps heat roots of "moss" on sun
Did you know the sun has moss? Due to its resemblance to the earthly plants, scientists have named a small-scale, bright, patchy structure made of plasma in the solar atmosphere "moss." This moss, which was first identified in 1999 by NASA's TRACE mi.....»»
Multi-drug resistant bacteria found on International Space Station mutate to become functionally distinct
Principal Investigator Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory led a team that studied 13 strains of the bacterial species Enterobacter bugandensis that were isolated from the International Space Station (ISS). E. bugandensis i.....»»
NASA"s VIPER moon rover gets its head and neck
In this image from Feb. 12, 2024, engineers lift a mast into place on NASA's VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) robotic moon rover. VIPER's mast and the suite of instruments affixed to it look a lot like the rover's "neck" and "h.....»»
NASA says it needs better ideas on how to return samples from Mars
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is losing its grip on managing NASA's next flagship mission. Enlarge / NASA's existing plan for Mars Sample Return involves a large lander the size of a two-car garage, two helicopters, a two-stage b.....»»