Month: March 2024

NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts

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4 min read NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts BurstCube, shown in this artist’s concept, will orbit Earth as it hunts for short gamma-ray bursts. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab NASA’s BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions, is on its way to the International Space Station. The spacecraft travels aboard SpaceX’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission, which lifted off at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in…

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NASA Science, Hardware Aboard SpaceX’s 30th Resupply Launch to Station

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NASA’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission launched at 4:55 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 21 , from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit: NASA/Madison Tuttle Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 30th commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and technology demonstrations for the agency are on the way to the International Space Station, including studies of technologies to measure sea ice and plant growth in space. SpaceX’s Dragon resupply spacecraft, carrying more than 6,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, launched on…

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Astronomers call for radio silence on the far side of the moon

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There’s a growing and passionate call for preserving radio silence on the far side of the moon. A first-of-its-kind international symposium is being held this week, turning up the volume to mull over the prospect of protecting real estate on the moon’s far side exclusively for dedicated scientific purposes. Despite the moon being surrounding by a vacuum, there’s an air of urgency to the meeting.  Held under the auspices of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the first IAA Moon Farside Protection Symposium is taking place March 21-22 in Turin,…

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Dying SpaceX rocket creates glowing, galaxy-like spiral in the middle of the Northern Lights

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A massive swirl of bright white light seemingly appeared from out of nowhere in the night sky above the Arctic last week, briefly upstaging a vibrant aurora display that spanned thousands of miles. The ethereal, galaxy-shaped light show was caused by an illuminated cloud of frozen fuel that was dumped in space by a SpaceX rocket, which released dozens of satellites into low-Earth orbit.  Astronomers call this rare phenomenon a “SpaceX spiral,” and expect them to become a much more common sight in the future. Related: Eerie blue spiral in…

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Historical incidents of viewing total eclipses near the edge of totality

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Of the 15 states that will be touched by the moon’s dark umbral shadow on April 8, no state is perhaps more enthused at the prospect of hosting the total solar eclipse than New York.  Indeed, this will be the first time in 99 years that the path of totality will sweep across the Empire State, and the “I Love New York” campaign, used since 1977 to promote tourism in the state of New York, is going all out to attract prospective eclipse watchers from other parts of the country to “Come for the…

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A Tranquil Sunrise

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A fast boat is seen at sunrise after the landing of SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft a few hours earlier in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. The Crew-7 members returned after nearly six-months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station.

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NASA, Health and Human Services Highlight Cancer Moonshot Progress

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson delivers remarks during an event with Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to highlight how the agencies are making progress toward President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, Thursday, March 21, 2024, in the Earth Information Center at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. NASA is working with agencies and researchers across the federal government to help cut the nation’s cancer death rate by at least 50% in the next 25 years, a goal of the…

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SpaceX’s Starship could fly again as soon as early May

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We might not have to wait too long to see the world’s most powerful rocket take to the skies again. That vehicle, SpaceX’s 400-foot-tall (122-meter-tall) Starship, conducted its third test flight last Thursday (March 14) from the company’s Starbase launch site in South Texas. Starship notched a number of important milestones on that mission, but both of its stages ended up breaking apart while descending through Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX is still analyzing data from the flight. The results will inform preparations for Starship’s fourth flight, which could be just around…

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China launches satellite to support future moon missions (video)

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China launched a satellite toward the moon this week to help support the country’s lunar ambitions. On Tuesday (March 19), a Long March 8 rocket took off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern Chinese island of Hainan carrying the Queqiao-2 satellite. The spacecraft is what’s known as a relay satellite, meaning it will help pass messages back and forth between China’s Chang’e moon spacecraft, as well as other vehicles on the lunar surface, and mission controllers on Earth. Queqiao-2 is intended for a highly elliptical orbit around…

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NASA Advanced Air Mobility Partnerships

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12 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA is partnered with other government agencies, industry, and academia to conduct Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) research to benefit a future transportation system with routine flight of air taxis and drones. See the current partnerships below and in the map above. AerostarSioux Falls, South DakotaNASA and Aerostar are conducting collaborative evaluation of a NASA prototype simulated Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) system. AeroVironmentSimi Valley, CaliforniaNASA and AeroVironment are conducting research, development, testing, and evaluation of a NASA prototype…

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