Month: May 2024

NASA Field Geology Training Prepares Artemis Mission Support Teams  

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A small team of participants in the Geology 101 field training gather on a large pile of rocks from a lava flow. NASA/Robert Markowitz NASA engineers, managers, and flight directors recently traded their cubicles and conference rooms for an ancient volcanic field in the northern Arizona desert to participate in a field geology course aimed at arming them with first-hand experience in what Artemis astronauts will do when they explore the Moon.  The two-and-a-half-day exercise for Artemis mission support…

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NASA SCoPE Engages and Empowers at AbSciCon 2024 with Gaming Activities and Childcare Support

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2 min read NASA SCoPE Engages and Empowers at AbSciCon 2024 with Gaming Activities and Childcare Support At the AbSciCon conference held from May 6-10, 2024 in Providence, RI, NASA SCoPE (SMD Community of Practice for Engagement) left a lasting impression with its engaging activities centered around gaming. The NASA SCoPE exhibit hall booth was a vibrant hub featuring three digital game consoles, where nearly 150 of the 900 conference attendees, had the opportunity to learn about NASA Science Activation, the NASA SCoPE project, and avenues for proposing funded projects…

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Sierra Space’s 1st Dream Chaser space plane aces key tests. Next stop: Florida launch site.

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The private Dream Chaser space plane is closer to reaching the final frontier than ever before, with a completed checklist from its environmental testing phase and preparations underway to send it to Florida for final testing ahead of launch.   Three months ago, Space.Com gave you up-close looks at Sierra Space’s inaugural Dream Chaser space plane at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. Since then, the robotic space plane, named “Tenacity,” and its Shooting Star cargo module have successfully completed a series of assessments to prepare them for space’s…

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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope will hunt for tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang

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Black hole week is in full swing, and to celebrate, NASA has explained how its next major astronomical instrument, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, will hunt for tiny black holes that date back to the Big Bang. When we think of black holes, we tend to picture vast cosmic monsters like stellar-mass black holes with masses tens to hundreds of times that of the sun. We may even picture supermassive black holes with masses millions (or even billions) of times that of the sun sitting at the hearts of…

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Arizona, New York Students to Hear from NASA Astronauts Aboard Station

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(March 26, 2024) — Five NASA astronauts wear eye-protecting specs in anticipation of viewing the April 8 solar eclipse from the International Space Station’s cupola. Credits: NASA Students from Arizona and New York will have separate opportunities next week to hear from astronauts aboard the International Space Station. At 12:10 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 14, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps and Tracy C. Dyson will answer prerecorded student questions from Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson, Arizona, in partnership with the TRiO Upward Bound Program, PIMA Community College, Desert Vista…

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NASA’s Webb Hints at Possible Atmosphere Surrounding Rocky Exoplanet

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7 min read NASA’s Webb Hints at Possible Atmosphere Surrounding Rocky Exoplanet This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet 55 Cancri e could look like. Observations by NASA’s Webb telescope suggest it may be surrounded by an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide, which could have bubbled up from of an ocean of magma on the planet’s surface. While the planet is too hot to be habitable, detecting its atmosphere could provide insights into the early conditions of Earth, Venus, and Mars. Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space…

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Sols 4180-4182: Imaging fest!

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3 min read Sols 4180-4182: Imaging fest! This Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) image shows all the features and textures we have in the area ranging from laminae to little nodules. The image was taken on May 7, 2024, Sol 4178 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 23:20:40 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Earth planning date: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 What a wonderful sight to see all the sedimentary structures. I am a geochemist, but I hear the excitement in the voices of my sediment-specialist colleagues, discussing all those textures and things to…

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Sols 4178-4179: The Pinnacle Ridge Scarp

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2 min read Sols 4178-4179: The Pinnacle Ridge Scarp This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 4176 (2024-05-05 22:50:10 UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, May 6, 2024 Curiosity’s set of complex activities and drive over the weekend executed perfectly and we started our planning today directly in front of a scarp, or wall, along a section of the upper Gediz Valis ridge known as “Pinnacle Ridge.” The view along this scarp did not disappoint!  Mastcam planned a large mosaic to image the top…

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Boeing’s Starliner rolled off launch pad to replace ‘buzzing’ rocket valve (photo)

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Boeing’s Starliner capsule has left the launch pad. Starliner and its rocket ride, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V, rolled off the pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today (May 8), heading to an assembly building at the site so scientists can replace a misbehaving valve in the launcher’s upper stage. The duo could be back soon, however: They’re scheduled to launch no earlier than May 17, kicking off Starliner’s first-ever astronaut mission, a trial run to the International Space Station (ISS) called Crew Flight Test (CFT).…

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