Day: January 7, 2025

NASA won’t decide on Mars Sample Return plan until mid-2026

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NASA is considering two ways to get its precious Mars samples back to Earth, but the agency won’t pick a winner for another 18 months or so. Analysis of those samples, which are being collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover, could reveal a wealth of data about Mars and its history — including, perhaps, whether the Red Planet has ever hosted life. NASA is therefore eager to get the Mars material — about 30 cigar-sized, sealed tubes containing rock cores and sediment — home, and then on to laboratories around the…

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Best of 2024: Reestablished NASA Art Program Begins with Mural in New York City

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NASA/Joel Kowsky The New York-based artist team Geraluz, left, and WERC, right, pose in front of their mural “To the Moon, and Back” with their son Amaru, 5. The community mural was created as part of the reimagined NASA Art Program, which aims to inspire and engage the next generation of explorers – the Artemis Generation – in new and unexpected ways, including through art. The NASA Headquarters photo team chose this image as one of their best from 2024. See more of the top 100 from last year on…

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Scientists find ‘spooky’ quantum entanglement on incredibly tiny scales — within individual protons

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Scientists have used high-energy particle collisions to peer inside protons, the particles that sit inside the nuclei of all atoms. This has revealed for the first time that quarks and gluons, the building blocks of protons, experience the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. Entanglement is the aspect of quantum physics that says two affected particles can instantaneously influence each other’s “state” no matter how widely separated they are — even if they are on opposite sides of the universe. Albert Einstein founded his theories of relativity on the notion that nothing…

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NASA eClips Educator Receives 2024 VAST Science Educator Specialist Award

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Learn Home NASA eClips Educator Receives… Science Activation Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   2 min read NASA eClips Educator Receives 2024 VAST Science Educator Specialist Award On November 14, 2024, NASA eClips team member, Betsy McAllister, was recognized with the prestigious Virginia Association of Science Teachers (VAST) Science Educator Specialist Award at the 2024 VAST Annual Professional Development Institute. McAllister is an educator with Hampton City Schools in Virginia and Educator-in-Residence (EIR) at the National Institute of Aerospace’s Center…

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JAXA’s First Wooden Satellite Deploys from Space Station

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Internal view of LignoSat’s structure shows the relationship among wooden panels, aluminum frames, and stainless-steel shafts. Credit: Kyoto University In December 2024, five CubeSats deployed into Earth’s orbit from the International Space Station. Among them was LignoSat, a wooden satellite from JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) that investigates the use of wood in space. Findings could offer a more sustainable alternative to conventional satellites. A previous experiment aboard station exposed three species of wood to the space environment to help researchers determine the best option for LignoSat. The final design…

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How NASA and Sierra Space are preparing for Dream Chaser space plane’s 1st flight to ISS

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LOUISVILLE, Colorado — The scene here is intense. Slowly, ever so slowly, the Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane draws near the International Space Station. There is focused face time here as mission controllers monitor their computer screens and diligently monitor incoming data. Anxiety mounts within the private company’s control center as the craft makes its way through various perfunctory pauses — cautiously approaching the International Space Station (ISS) and enters the approach ellipsoid. The outstretched Canadarm2 robotic arm grapples a fixture on Dream Chaser‘s Shooting Star cargo module. A go-ahead…

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NASA to Cover Two Spacewalks, Hold Preview News Conference

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NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet conduct a spacewalk to complete work on the International Space Station on June 25, 2021. Credit: NASA Two NASA astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station, conducting U.S. spacewalk 91 on Thursday, Jan. 16, and U.S. spacewalk 92 on Thursday, Jan. 23, to complete station upgrades. NASA also will discuss the pair of upcoming spacewalks during a news conference at 2 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10, on NASA+ from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Learn…

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