Day: June 26, 2024

NASA Selects International Space Station US Deorbit Vehicle

NeRD

NASA logo NASA is fostering continued scientific, educational, and technological developments in low Earth orbit to benefit humanity, while also supporting deep space exploration at the Moon and Mars. As the agency transitions to commercially owned space destinations closer to home, it is crucial to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbit of the International Space Station in a controlled manner after the end of its operational life in 2030. NASA announced SpaceX has been selected to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will provide the capability to…

Read More

NOAA’s GOES-U Satellite Launches

NeRD

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The GOES-U satellite is the final satellite in the GOES-R series, which serves a critical role in providing continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including monitoring tropical systems in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Read More

Take a deep dive into UFO history in ‘After the Flying Saucers Came’ by Greg Eghigian (exclusive)

NeRD

Providing an academic lens through which to view the huge interest and hysteria surrounding unidentified flying objects since pilot Kenneth A. Arnold witnessed what he called “flying disks or saucers” while cruising past Mt. Rainier on June 24,1947, a new book titled “After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon” has just been released from Oxford University Press. Author Greg Eghigian is a professor of history and bioethics at Penn State University who spent nearly a decade delving into the subject of UFOs for this project,…

Read More

Mycotecture off Planet: En route to the Moon and Mars

NeRD

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist concept depicting a new novel aerospace concept for NIAC Phase III 2024. Credit: Lynn Rothschild Lynn RothschildNASA Ames Research Center (ARC) A turtle carries its habitat. While reliable, it costs energy in transporting mass. NASA makes the same trade-off when it transports habitats and other structures off planet “on the back” of its missions. While this approach is reliable, to save upmass and increase mission flexibility, NASA must be more like a bird, low mass, agile and building…

Read More

What happened to China’s Chang’e 6 lander on the moon’s far side?

NeRD

China’s Chang’e 6 mission has successfully delivered to Earth the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon. But what became of the lander that collected the lunar material? Chang’e 6 launched on May 3. The mission consisted of four spacecraft — an orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle and reentry capsule. The lander touched down in Apollo crater on June 1, with the main task of scooping and drilling for unique samples from the lunar far side and loading them into the ascender to be blasted into lunar orbit.  The…

Read More

Watch GOES-U weather satellite float above a brightly shining Earth in stunning video from space

NeRD

The launch of NOAA’s powerful new GOES-U weather satellite did not disappoint. The satellite took off on Tuesday (June 25) atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in a picture-perfect launch under a clear blue sky at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch marked the 10th launch of Falcon Heavy, and lofted the fourth and final member of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-R series of weather spacecraft. Four and a half hours after take off, Falcon Heavy’s second stage deployed GOES-U into space…

Read More

NASA eClips Educators Presented Exemplary Collaboration Award

NeRD

1 min read NASA eClips Educators Presented Exemplary Collaboration Award On March 7, 2024, two NASA eClips educators from the National Institute of Aerospace’s Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Education (NIA-CISE) and Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) educators, Dr. Sharon Bowers and Joan Harper-Neely, were presented the William E. Dugger Exemplary Collaboration Award at the 2024 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) Conference held in Memphis, TN. This award recognizes individuals for their sustained record of outstanding service to the field of…

Read More

Pillars of Creation Star in New Visualization from NASA’s Hubble and Webb Telescopes

NeRD

6 Min Read Pillars of Creation Star in New Visualization from NASA’s Hubble and Webb Telescopes A mosaic of visible-light (Hubble) and infrared-light (Webb) views from the same Pillars of Creation visualization frame.  Credits: Greg Bacon, Ralf Crawford, Joseph DePasquale, Leah Hustak, Christian Nieves, Joseph Olmsted, Alyssa Pagan, and Frank Summers (STScI), NASA’s Universe of Learning Made famous in 1995 by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the Pillars of Creation in the heart of the Eagle Nebula have captured imaginations worldwide with their arresting, ethereal beauty. Now, NASA has released a…

Read More

The 1998 Florida Firestorm and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A lightning strike at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July 2014. Bolts like this are a regular occurrence in central Florida. Similar lightning strikes sparked the 1998 Florida Firestorm. NASA Lightning Crashes East central Florida’s natural environment and climate have shaped, and delayed, Kennedy Space Center launch operations since the 1960s. Torrential pop-up thunderstorms, Atlantic hurricanes, roasting heat, and other climatic phenomena, including lightning and fire, repeatedly hampered mission timelines and created dangerous…

Read More