Day: June 28, 2024

NASA Awards Contract for Infrared Telescope Facility Operations

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Credits: NASA NASA has selected the University of Hawaii in Honolulu to maintain and operate the agency’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea in Hilo, Hawaii. The Management and Operations of NASA’s IRTF is a hybrid firm-fixed-price contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision. The contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $85.5 million, with a base period of performance from Monday, July 1 to June 30, 2025. Nine optional periods, if exercised, would extend the contract through Dec. 31, 2033. Under this contract, the University of Hawaii will provide…

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NASA Announces Winners of Inaugural Human Lander Challenge

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4 Min Read NASA Announces Winners of Inaugural Human Lander Challenge NASA’s 2024 Human Lander Challenge (HuLC) Forum brought 12 university teams from across the United States to Huntsville, Alabama, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center, to showcase their innovative concepts for addressing the complex issue of managing lunar dust. The 12 finalists, selected in March 2024, presented their final presentations to a panel of NASA and industry experts from NASA’s Human Landing Systems Program at the HuLC Forum in Huntsville June 25-27. NASA’s lunar exploration campaign Artemis is…

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The Maze is Afoot

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NASA/JPL-Caltech This labyrinth – with a silhouette of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes at its center – is used as a calibration target for the cameras and laser that are part of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals), one of the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The image was captured by the Autofocus and Context Imager on SHERLOC on May 11, 2024, as the rover team sought to confirm it had successfully addressed an issue with a stuck lens cover. The Perseverance rover…

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NASA Opportunities Fuel Growth and Entrepreneurship for Bronco Space Club Students

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Bronco Space team assembles its Bronco Ember technology, which uses a short-wave infrared camera with AI to improve early wildfire detection. Credit: Bronco Space NASA’s public competitions can catalyze big changes – not just for the agency but also for participants. Bronco Space, the CubeSat laboratory at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, matured more than just space technology as a result of winning funds from NASA’s TechLeap Prize competition. It grew from its roots in a…

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The gorgeous Ring Nebula makes a stunning skywatching sight this week

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I would suppose that just about any good book on astronomy would contain a photograph of what might best be described as the “smoke ring” of the sky. Others might call it a doughnut or a cosmic bagel, but the popular name for this object is simply the Ring Nebula, located in the constellation of Lyra, the Lyre. Although generally considered a summer constellation, Lyra, it is still very well placed for viewing, now more than two weeks into the autumn season. Head outside this week at around 10 p.m.…

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Listen live today as NASA, Boeing discuss Starliner return, spacewalk issues

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NASA and Boeing will discuss their next plans and a possible landing schedule for the first Starliner spacecraft mission with astronauts later today (June 28), and you can listen in live. Boeing Starliner launched on June 5 for what was supposed to be a 10-day mission, but the test effort with astronauts needed extra time to address helium leaks and thruster issues uncovered during the June 6 docking with the International Space Station (ISS). The team will provide an update to reporters at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), which you…

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In Space Production Applications News

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Technological innovations make headlines every day, and NASA’s In Space Production Applications (InSPA) Portfolio of awards are driving these innovations into the future. InSPA awards help U.S. companies demonstrate in-space manufacturing of their products and move them to market, propelling U.S. industry toward the development of a sustainable, scalable, and profitable non-NASA demand for services and products manufactured in the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit for use on Earth. Latest News: A Meta-Analysis of Semiconductor Materials Fabricated in Microgravity (June 26, 2024) ISSRDC Announces “Steps to Space” Session to Educate Future…

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16 best places to see the 2026 total solar eclipse

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On Aug. 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse will be visible from within a broad path sweeping from remote Russian Siberia to eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon drifts in front of the sun while it’s slightly larger in apparent size so that the moon completely covers the sun’s disk. Peaking at 2 minutes, 18 seconds, the Aug. 12, 2026, total solar eclipse will be the first time mainland Europe has experienced totality in the 21st century. Related: What’s the difference…

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NASA@ My Library and Partners Engage Millions in Eclipse Training and Preparation

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2 min read NASA@ My Library and Partners Engage Millions in Eclipse Training and Preparation The Space Science Institute, with funding from the NASA Science Mission Directorate and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, provided unprecedented training, support, and supplies to 15,000 libraries in the U.S. and territories in support of public engagement during the 2023 and 2024 eclipses. From September 2022 to September 2024, these efforts included: Co-development efforts with 3 NASA@ My Library Partner Libraries in the “Square of Awesome” (where both the total and annular eclipse crossed) led…

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An Eclipse Megamovie Megastar

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1 Min Read An Eclipse Megamovie Megastar Nasmus Nazir’s High Dynamic Range image, created with processed photographs of the Sun’s corona taken during the total solare eclipse on April 8th, 2024. Nazmus “Naz” Nasir is a software engineer by day, and an astrophotographer by night….and sometimes by day as well! This April, Naz participated in NASA’s Eclipse Megamovie 2024 project, photographing the total solar eclipse. He posted online a spectacular video composed of stabilized and aligned photographs of the sun taken during totality. The video includes links to tutorials Naz created to teach viewers…

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