The Apollo 11 landing site, Tranquility Base, as viewed from orbit by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. (NASA/GSFC/ASU) Preserving the historic sites where humans first landed on the moon is now not only a good idea, it is also the law.The United States has enacted its first legislation that requires American companies and other entities working... Continue Reading →
NASA Celebrates Establishment of Center in Cleveland 80 Years Ago
NACA and city officials broke ground at the future site of the NASA Glenn Research Center. From left to right: William Hopkins (former city manager), John Berry (airport manager), Ray Sharp (AERL), Frederick Crawford (Chamber of Commerce), George Brett (Air Corps), [behind] S. Paul Johnston (NACA), Edward Warner (Civil Aeronautics Board), Sydney Kraus (Bureau of... Continue Reading →
NASA’s Deep Space Network Welcomes a New Dish to the Family
Deep Space Station 56, or DSS-56, is a powerful 34-meter-wide (112-foot-wide) antenna that was added to the Deep Space Network’s Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain in early 2021.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech A powerful new antenna has been added to the NASA Space Communications and Navigation’s Deep Space Network (DSN), which connects us to the space... Continue Reading →
35 Years Ago: Voyager 2 Explores Uranus
In January 1986, NASA's Voyager 2 became the first, and so far the only, spacecraft to explore Uranus, the second to last stop on its journey through the outer solar system. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages Voyagers 1 and 2, twin spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets. Initially planned... Continue Reading →
What is V-R3x?
Swarming small satellites to develop the next generation of communication and navigation tech Learning how to communicate and navigate multiple spacecraft autonomously in space is a technology challenge that will become even more important to solve as NASA continues to operate in low-Earth orbit and beyond. The V-R3x mission uses a swarm of three small... Continue Reading →
Orion Ready to Fuel Up for Artemis I Mission
Orion is revealed for one of the final times on Jan. 14, as it is readied atop its transport pallet from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, along its path to the pad ahead of the Artemis I launch. Teams across the globe have worked tirelessly to... Continue Reading →
NASA Selects 14 Early Stage Innovations from US Universities for R&D
Each year NASA selects and funds a number of university researchers to mature game-changing space technologies. The multi-year research and development projects could help develop super-cold space refrigerators and innovate ways to deal with hazardous lunar dust, among other objectives. Edgar Mitchell moves across the lunar surface as he looks over a traverse map during... Continue Reading →
NASA to Host Virtual Briefing on February Perseverance Mars Rover Landing
NASA is hosting a media briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m. EST to discuss the upcoming landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The event will air live on NASA TV, the agency's website, and YouTube. This illustration shows NASA’s Perseverance rover deploying a supersonic parachute from its aeroshell as it slows down before landing on... Continue Reading →
NASA InSight’s ‘Mole’ Ends Its Journey on Mars
The heat probe hasn’t been able to gain the friction it needs to dig, but the mission has been granted an extension to carry on with its other science. In this artist's concept of NASA's InSight lander on Mars, layers of the planet's subsurface can be seen below, and dust devils can be seen in... Continue Reading →
Roman Space Telescope Could Image 100 Hubble Ultra Deep Fields at Once
One of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most iconic images is the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, which unveiled myriad galaxies across the universe, stretching back to within a few hundred million years of the Big Bang. Hubble peered at a single patch of seemingly empty sky for hundreds of hours beginning in September 2003, and astronomers... Continue Reading →