Month: March 2024

NASA Selects First Lunar Instruments for Artemis Astronaut Deployment

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Artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface. Credits: NASA NASA has chosen the first science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during Artemis III. Once installed near the lunar South Pole, the three instruments will collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, the lunar interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the Moon, which will help prepare NASA to send astronauts to Mars. “Artemis marks a bold new era of exploration, where human presence…

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April 8 total solar eclipse could bring uptick in fatal car crashes, scientists caution

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The total solar eclipse on April 8 could come with an uptick in fatal car crashes, scientists caution in a new report. It’s more common to hear about eclipse-related eye injuries than car crashes. But during the last total solar eclipse in North America — the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017 — the U.S. saw a brief-but-significant increase in fatal crashes, researchers warned in a research letter published Monday (March 25) in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. The surge in crashes wasn’t tied to the daytime darkness caused by the eclipse. Actually, “we see a significant decrease…

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CADRE Rovers’ Test Drive in the Mars Yard

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NASA/JPL-Caltech Two full-scale development model rovers, part of NASA’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration, drive in the Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in this image from August 2023. The project is designed to show that a group of robotic spacecraft can work together as a team to accomplish tasks and record data autonomously – without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth. A series of Mars Yard tests with the development models confirmed CADRE hardware and software can work together to…

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SpaceX fires up Starship rocket ahead of 4th test flight (video)

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SpaceX’s next Starship vehicle has breathed fire ahead of its coming test flight. A 165-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship upper stage just fired up all six of its Raptor engines in a full-duration “static fire” test at SpaceX‘s Starbase site in South Texas, the company announced today (March 25). Static fires, in which engines are briefly lit while a vehicle remains anchored to the pad, are common prelaunch tests. SpaceX conducted this one to prep for the fourth Starship test flight, which could take place as soon as early May. Related:…

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NASA Remembers Former NASA Johnson Director George W. S. Abbey

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March 25, 2024 Former NASA Johnson Space Center Director George W. S. Abbey RELEASE J24-008 NASA Remembers Former NASA Johnson Director George W. S. Abbey George W. S. Abbey, former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, died Sunday, March 24, in Houston after an illness. The Seattle native was 91.  “A true visionary, Mr. Abbey demonstrated transformational leadership as Johnson’s seventh center director. During his tenure, the space shuttle flew more than 25 successful missions; the joint U.S. and Russian Shuttle-Mir Program was completed, providing important information for long-duration spaceflight,”…

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Keep the lines of communication open by building your own infrared transmitter

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(Image credit: Future) The idea of being in a remote location, unable to communicate with civilization, is foreign to most people. With cell phones, Wi-Fi, and radio readily available to us, we hardly think about how difficult it would be to communicate over long distances without them. But that could be a reality for members of the United States Space Force in the future.  What do you do when your ability to communicate is hindered? In the second episode of the Space Force STEM Challenge, we show you how to…

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NASA is holding a total eclipse 2024 briefing tomorrow. Here’s how to watch it live

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On April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across North America. The path of totality — a 115-mile (185-kilometer) wide route where the moon will cover 100% of the sun‘s disk — stretches through Mexico, 15 U.S. States and Canada. It is shaping up to be one of the most watched total solar eclipses ever with over 31 million people living within the path of totality alone. With all the juiced-up anticipation for the celestial event, there is a huge amount of pressure to get “E-day” just right. The…

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NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse

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5 min read NASA to Launch Sounding Rockets into Moon’s Shadow During Solar Eclipse NASA will launch three sounding rockets during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, to study how Earth’s upper atmosphere is affected when sunlight momentarily dims over a portion of the planet. The Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) sounding rockets will launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to study the disturbances in the ionosphere created when the Moon eclipses the Sun. The sounding rockets had been previously launched and successfully recovered from…

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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Awarded Robert Goddard Memorial Trophy

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team was selected as the winner of the National Space Club and Foundation’s 2024 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for their tremendous work on the first U.S. mission to bring an asteroid sample to Earth. The winning team  received the award at the 67th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 22, 2024. The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert,…

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Optical Fiber Production

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Science in Space: March 2024 Optical fibers are used on Earth and in space for applications in medicine, defense, cybersecurity, and telecommunications. Parabolic research showed that optical fibers produced in microgravity can be higher quality than those made in normal gravity, and the International Space Station provides a potential platform for commercial production of these fibers. The Production of Flawless Space Fiber (Flawless Space Fibers-1) investigation is using the space station to demonstrate new manufacturing technology developed by Flawless Photonics to improve the quality and length of optical fiber produced…

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