March 2024 – Page 10 – NeRDs Moonbase

Sketch the Shape of the Sun for Science During the Solar Eclipse

March 19, 2024 NeRD

5 min read Sketch the Shape of the Sun for Science During the Solar Eclipse Calling all eclipse admirers! The SunSketcher team is looking for one million volunteers to capture photos on their cell phones during the April 8 total solar eclipse. These images will help scientists learn about the size, shape, and inner structure of the Sun. This NASA-funded citizen science project invites anyone who will be within the path of totality in the U.S. to take photos of the Baily’s Beads effect, which occurs when little points of…

Gemini VI Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Walter M. Schirra Jr.

March 19, 2024 NeRD

Gemini VI astronauts Thomas P. Stafford (left), pilot, and Walter M. Schirra Jr., command pilot, are shown during suiting up exercises at Cape Kennedy, Florida.

NASA Administrator, Health Secretary to Host Cancer Moonshot Event

March 19, 2024 NeRD

NASA logo Editor’s note: This advisory was updated March 19, 2024, with a new start time for the Moonshot event. Media are invited to join NASA and Department of Health and Human Services leadership at 9:40 a.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, to highlight how the agencies are making progress toward President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative. During the event, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will give remarks and are available for interviews…

SpaceX launching 22 Starlink satellites from California tonight

March 18, 2024 NeRD

SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit tonight (March 18). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off tonight from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base during a nearly four-hour window that opens at 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 GMT on March 19). You can watch the action live via SpaceX’s account on X, beginning about five minutes before the window opens. Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky If all goes according to…

Marvel Comics’ new series celebrates Boba Fett’s Mandalorian dad

March 18, 2024 NeRD

Notorious Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett’s stock in the “Star Wars” universe has soared ever since his introduction in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” as the DNA donor to the cloned Grand Army of the Republic and proud papa of his unaltered replica, Boba Fett. Portrayed by Temuera Morrison (“Once Were Warriors,” “The Book of Boba Fett“) Jango’s coolest moment came on the watery world of Kamino in that 2002 film’s “Rumble in the Rain” duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and subsequent spaceship dogfight through an asteroid field.…

Student-Built Robots Clash at Competition Supported by NASA-JPL

March 18, 2024 NeRD

Teams prepare for a playoff match at the L.A. regional FIRST Robotics Competition in El Segundo on March 17. The robots, built by high school teams, would go on to face off with three other robots being staged at the other end of the playing field. NASA/JPL-Caltech The robots clash six at a time – in two alliances of three robots – on a playing field of about 54 feet by 26 feet in the FIRST Robotics Competition. The human competitors can sport color-coordinated outfits, face paint, and pompoms. NASA/JPL-Caltech…

NASA’s Swift Temporarily Suspends Science Operations

March 18, 2024 NeRD

1 min read NASA’s Swift Temporarily Suspends Science Operations Swift, illustrated here, is a collaboration between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Penn State in University Park, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems in Dulles, Virginia. Other partners include the University of Leicester and Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the United Kingdom, Brera Observatory in Italy, and the Italian Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center On March 15, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory entered into safe mode, temporarily suspending science…

NASA Administrator Pays Tribute to Space Pioneer Thomas Stafford

March 18, 2024 NeRD

(1966) — Portrait of astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, wearing his spacesuit. Credits: NASA The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Monday’s passing of Thomas Stafford, a lifelong space exploration advocate, former NASA astronaut, and U.S. Air Force general: “Today, General Tom Stafford went to the eternal heavens, which he so courageously explored as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut as well as a peacemaker in the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Those of us privileged to know him are very sad but grateful we knew a giant. “Tom was critical…

Track the April 8 total solar eclipse with SkySafari, now 80% off

March 18, 2024 NeRD

SkySafari is celebrating the solar eclipse, and you can grab it on a great deal through April 8. The entry-level version of SkySafari 7, which features on our best stargazing apps guide, locates millions of planets, stars and constellations with a single screen tap. It is on sale right now for just $0.99, just in time for the next total solar eclipse. That’s an 80% discount from the usual $4.99, so make sure to act quickly. Affiliated apps SkySafari Plus and SkySafari Pro will also go on sale roughly one…

NASA Challenge Invites Artemis Generation Coders to Johnson Space Center

March 18, 2024 NeRD

NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement has selected seven student teams to participate in a culminating event for the 2024 App Development Challenge (ADC), one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The coding challenge invites middle and high school student teams to contribute to deep space exploration missions by developing solutions to real-world technical problems. Screenshot of the app submitted by ADC Top Team, Team Spaghetti Code from Trinity Christian School in Morgantown, West Virginia. The ADC, a part of NASA’s Next Gen STEM…