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Destined to become the first aircraft to attempt powered flight on another planet, NASA’s Mars Helicopter officially has received a new name: Ingenuity. Vaneeza Rupani, a junior at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama, came up with the name and the motivation behind it during NASA’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. Q&AContinue reading Alabama High School Student Names NASA’s Mars Helicopter
In this gallery of three newly reprocessed Europa images, details are visible in the variety of features on the moon’s icy surface. This image of an area called Chaos Transition shows blocks that have moved and ridges possibly related to how the crust fractures from the force of Jupiter’s gravity. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute Full imageContinue reading Newly Reprocessed Images of Europa Show ‘Chaos Terrain’ in Crisp Detail
A new high-pressure ventilator developed by NASA engineers and tailored to treat coronavirus (COVID-19) patients today was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use under the FDA’s March 24 ventilator Emergency Use Authorization. Called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), the device was developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in SouthernContinue reading NASA-Developed Ventilator Authorized by FDA for Emergency Use
NASA has selected three U.S. companies to design and develop human landing systems (HLS) for the agency’s Artemis program, one of which will land the first woman and next man on the surface of the Moon by 2024. NASA is on track for sustainable human exploration of the Moon for the first time in history. The human landing system awards under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) AppendixContinue reading NASA Names Companies to Develop Human Landers for Artemis Moon Missions
Starship SN4 became SpaceX’s first full-scale Starship prototype to pass a cryogenic proof test on Sunday evening at SpaceX’s launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. The cryogenic proof is one of the first tests necessary to prove the vehicle’s flight-worthiness. With the successful test, SpaceX teams will now work towards a static fire, and thenContinue reading SN4 becomes first full-scale Starship prototype to pass cryogenic proof test
These two Hubble Space Telescope images of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and 23, 2020, provide the sharpest views yet of the breakup of the fragile comet. Hubble identified about 30 fragments on April 20, and 25 pieces on April 23. They are all enveloped in a sunlight-swept tail of cometary dust. “TheirContinue reading Hubble Watches Comet ATLAS Disintegrate Into More Than Two Dozen Pieces
A large near-Earth asteroid will safely pass by our planet on Wednesday morning, providing astronomers with an exceptional opportunity to study the 1.5-mile-wide (2-kilometer-wide) object in great detail. The asteroid, called 1998 OR2, will make its closest approach at 5:55 a.m. EDT (2:55 a.m. PDT). While this is known as a “close approach” by astronomers,Continue reading Asteroid 1998 OR2 to Safely Fly Past Earth This Week
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — a branch of the country’s armed forces — launched a small military spacecraft into orbit Wednesday, ending a string of rocket failures in the nascent Iranian satellite program. The small military craft, named Noor, flew into orbit on top of a multi-stage Qased rocket, according to Iranian stateContinue reading Iran places military satellite in orbit
An Atlas 5 first stage was raised vertical Thursday inside United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance technicians raised the first stage of the company’s next Atlas 5 rocket onto a mobile launch platform at Cape Canaveral Thursday, kicking off the launch vehicle’s build-up for a mission scheduledContinue reading ULA begins stacking rocket for next launch of U.S. military spaceplane
Members of NASA’s Perseverance rover mission work remotely from home during the coronavirus outbreak. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech From the moment the mission began in 2013, the women and men working on what would become NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover knew they’d encounter unexpected challenges on their way to Mars. After all, no NASA mission to the surface ofContinue reading How NASA’s Perseverance Mars Team Has Adjusted to Work in the Time of Coronavirus