June 2023 – NeRDs Moonbase

Mars helicopter Ingenuity phones home, breaking 63-day silence

June 30, 2023 NeRD

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s two-month silent stretch is over. Ingenuity got in touch with its handlers on June 28 via its robotic parter, the Perseverance rover, NASA officials announced today (June 30). It was the first such communication since April 26, when the 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) chopper went dark toward the end of its 52nd flight on the floor of Mars‘ Jezero Crater. “The portion of Jezero Crater the rover and helicopter are currently exploring has a lot of rugged terrain, which makes communications dropouts more likely,” Ingenuity team lead…

NASA Hosts OSIRIS-REx Sample Lab Media Day in Houston

June 30, 2023 NeRD

Ahead of the first asteroid sample collected by the U.S. arriving on Earth in September, media are invited on Monday, July 24, to see NASA’s newly-built OSIRIS-REx Sample Curation Laboratory where the agency will study the sample at its Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of June 26, 2023

June 30, 2023 NeRD

Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of June 26 that included sampling space station air, water, and surfaces for contaminants; preparing to launch small satellites carrying a variety of student projects; and recording astronauts reading science-related children’s books.

Hubble Checks in on a Galactic Neighbor

June 30, 2023 NeRD

The highly irregular galaxy ESO 174-1, which resembles a lonely, hazy cloud against a backdrop of bright stars, dominates this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Mars, Venus and Neptune put on a summer skywatching show tonight. Here’s how to see it.

June 30, 2023 NeRD

Three of the visible planets will make for interesting skywatching targets tonight (June 30), though one will require staying up late. Mars and Venus will make a close approach in the night sky tonight and will be visible at sunset. Look to the west when darkness falls and find the pair just below the Leo constellation, the Lion. They will be separated by just 3 degrees, or around one-third of the width of your hand held at arm’s length. The pair will set some 2.5 hours after the sun sets,…

Happy Asteroid Day! You can celebrate with this free webcast

June 30, 2023 NeRD

Today is Asteroid Day. There’s no need for concern: No dangerous asteroids are predicted to be heading our way. Rather, the United Nations commemorates Asteroid Day every June 30, the anniversary of the famous 1908 Tunguska event, in which an incoming space rock flattened about 800 square miles (2,070 square kilometers) of Siberian forest. Asteroid Day is an annual celebration of asteroid science — and an annual reminder of how important it is to study these objects to protect future generations of Earthlings from the damage they might cause if…

Smoke from Canadian wildfires chokes US Midwest, reaches Europe (satellite photos)

June 29, 2023 NeRD

Satellites have seen smoke from Canadian wildfires gathering over the midwestern United States just days after space-based imagery spotted smoke creeping across the Atlantic into Europe. The gathering smoke over the Midwest comes from fires that have been burning in the Canadian province of Quebec for weeks. It was spotted from orbit by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite East (GOES-East) satellite, also known as GOES-16, operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison CIMSS) shared…

Artemis II Heat Shield Installed

June 29, 2023 NeRD

Teams install the heat shield on the Artemis II Orion spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 22, 2023.

Watch SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule depart the ISS today in this free livestream

June 29, 2023 NeRD

A robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is scheduled to leave the International Space Station today (June 29), and you can watch the departure live. The Dragon arrived at the ISS on June 6, delivering 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms) of supplies and scientific experiments to the astronauts aboard the orbiting lab. The freighter’s time in orbit is now up, and it’s about to come back to Earth. The SpaceX capsule is scheduled to depart the International Space Station (ISS) today at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT). Watch it live here at…

The gravitational wave background of the universe has been heard for the 1st time

June 29, 2023 NeRD

Astronomers have heard the faint hum of gravitational waves echoing throughout the universe for the first time. For nearly a decade, scientists have been hunting for the gravitational wave background, a faint but persistent echo of gravitational waves thought to have been set off by events that took place soon after the Big Bang and the mergers of supermassive black holes throughout the cosmos. While such a background was long theorized by physicists and sought by astronomers, signals of gravitational waves that make up that background have been hard to…