NASA Welcomes Serbia as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory 

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Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Đurić, right, shakes hands with NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson, left, after signing the Artemis Accords Thursday, July 16, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA/Keegan Barber The Republic of Serbia signed the Artemis Accords Thursday during a ceremony hosted by NASA at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington, becoming the 69th nation to join a large community of like-minded nations committed to the peaceful, transparent, and responsible exploration of space. “Serbia’s connection to NASA reaches back to the Apollo program, when the work of Serbian…

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Astronomers discover landslides on Pluto large enough to bury entire cities on Earth

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The aftermath of landslides have been found in images of Pluto’s surface taken when the New Horizons mission flew past the dwarf planet in 2015. The landslides are evidence that the icy world is still active, albeit on geological timescales. A team led by geologist Marco Emanuele Discenza pored over images taken by New Horizons’ LORRI (Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager) instrument, which was capable of detecting surface features as small as 984 feet (300 meters). They found convincing evidence for six landslides in total that have taken place down the inner…

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NASA Study Finds Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually Comet

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept depicts a near-Earth asteroid with an elongated orbit. A few objects such as these can exhibit significant perturbations in their motion around the Sun and, like the asteroid 1998 SH2, could turn out to be regular comets with a weak tail and coma (the gas and dust around a comet’s nucleus). NASA/JPL-Caltech New research led by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California has revealed the identity of a puzzling near-Earth object by precisely…

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Young Galaxy Cluster

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ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, S. Fujimoto NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope takes us 4.4 billion years in the past with this July 3, 2026, image of a young galaxy cluster, MACS J0553.4-3342. The cluster is composed of two actively merging sub-clusters, roughly equal in mass. Each sub-cluster is anchored on an immensely bright and massive elliptical galaxy, easily identifiable as the two brightest points in the center of this scene with the largest glowing halos around them. Read more about the image. Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, S. Fujimoto

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‘Full steam ahead’: NASA ramps up prep for Artemis III astronaut launch in 2027

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NASA is picking up the pace on its Artemis III mission preparations, pressing forward on multiple fronts to assemble launch vehicle hardware and beginning routine simulations inside Artemis mission control. The agency is “full steam ahead,” according to a July 13 NASA update. Across Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, components of Artemis III’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket are coming together, undergoing tests and awaiting transportation for final integration ahead of next year’s launch. NASA is targeting mid-to-late 2027 for Artemis III, which will launch four astronauts into low…

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NASA Uses Subscale Aircraft to Accelerate Flight Innovation

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4 Min Read NASA Uses Subscale Aircraft to Accelerate Flight Innovation An atmospheric probe model attached upside down to a quad rotor remotely piloted aircraft ascends with the Moon visible on Oct. 22, 2024. The quad rotor aircraft released the probe above Rogers Dry Lake, a flight area adjacent NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. The probe was designed and built at the center. Credits: NASA/Steve Freeman Testing new aerospace concepts in flight remains one of NASA’s most effective ways to advance knowledge and reduce risk. The Dale…

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Watch Archimedes burn! Rocket Lab fires up engine for its powerful next-gen Neutron launcher (video)

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Rocket Lab has completed a major qualification test for its formidable Archimedes engine, which will power the company’s next-gen Neutron launch vehicle. As Rocket Lab continues with regular launches of its workhorse small-lift Electron rocket, development of Neutron has carried on in the background, progressing toward a possible debut later this year. The company recently completed a full-duration burn of a second-stage Archimedes, paving the way for integration with Neutron in the coming months. The burn took place at Rocket Lab’s Archimedes Test Complex, housed at NASA’s Stennis Space Center…

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NASA Study of Pristine Meteorite Adds to Story of Ancient Asteroids

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6 min read NASA Study of Pristine Meteorite Adds to Story of Ancient Asteroids C1 clasts in Hillsborough: On the left is a back-scattered electron image with two C1 748 clasts circled. On the right, an X-ray map of the same area as (A), indicating Na enrichment in 749 of the C1 clasts relative to the bulk of Hillsborough. Credit: NASA/SETI A meteorite recovered immediately upon its fall to Earth on July 16, 2024, is helping NASA scientists uncover new clues about ancient water, the chemical evolution of primitive asteroids,…

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