The week of March 15, crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations, including studies of the melting-solidification process and changes in muscle properties in microgravity and tests of protective coatings and robot maneuvers.
Read MoreMonth: March 2021
NASA Statement on Nomination of Bill Nelson for Agency Administrator
Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk released the following statement after today’s nomination by President Joe Biden of Bill Nelson to serve as the 14th NASA administrator:
Read MoreSaturn’s Spring
Spring doesn’t just hapen on Earth. Spring also happens on some of our neighboring planets in the solar system.
Read MoreElon Musk shows off SpaceX’s 1st Starship Super Heavy booster
The other half of SpaceX’s Starship deep-space transportation system is starting to come out into the light. Over the past three months, three full-size prototypes of the 165-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship spacecraft have launched on high-altitude test flights, each time with impressive but ultimately explosive results. However, the company hadn’t showcased any versions of Super Heavy, the 230-foot-tall (70 m) booster that will launch Starship off Earth — until now. “First Super Heavy booster,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter on Thursday afternoon (March 18), where he…
Read MoreHow do tiny pieces of space junk cause incredible damage?
In 2016, European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake shared a photo of a quarter-inch dent gouged into a glass window of the International Space Station (ISS). The culprit? A tiny fleck of space junk. The piece of debris, perhaps a paint flake or a metal fragment from a satellite, was only a few thousandths of a millimeter across — not much bigger than a single cell of E. coli. But how can something so small cause visible damage? “It all comes down to velocity,” said Vishnu Reddy, an astronomer at…
Read MoreUS military to keep wary eye on Chinese and Russian space ambitions under President Biden
The space ambitions of Russia and China will likely stay front and center for the U.S. military during the administration of President Joe Biden, experts say. During the presidency of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, U.S. officials repeatedly stressed that Russia and China pose a substantial and growing threat to the United States’ long-held space dominance. In 2019, for example, then-Vice President Mike Pence said that the U.S. is in a space race with those two adversaries, “and the stakes are even higher” today than they were during the 1960s Cold…
Read MoreThis Week’s Sky at a Glance, March 19 – 27
The waxing Moon shines with Mars and Aldebaran on Friday evening the 19th. From there the Moon marches east day by day – first between the horn stars of Taurus, then across Gemini to sidle up to Castor and Pollux on the 22nd. The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 19 – 27 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreNASA Mega Moon Rocket Passes Key Test, Readies for Launch
The largest rocket element NASA has ever built, the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, fired its four RS-25 engines for 8 minutes and 19 seconds Thursday at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Read MoreNASA Joins White House National Climate Task Force
As a leading agency observing and understanding environmental changes to Earth, NASA has joined the National Climate Task Force.
Read MoreIs an Ocean of Mars Water Trapped in the Planet’s Crust?
A new study suggests that by 3 billion years ago, most of the Red Planet’s water was locked away in minerals, and it has stayed there ever since. The post Is an Ocean of Mars Water Trapped in the Planet’s Crust? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
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