Day: January 8, 2025

NASA to Test Solution for Radiation-Tolerant Computing in Space

NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Radiation Tolerant Computer, or RadPC, payload undergoes final checkout at Montana State University in Bozeman, which leads the payload project. RadPC is one of 10 NASA payloads set to fly aboard the next delivery for NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative in 2025. RadPC prototypes previously were tested aboard the International Space Station and Earth-orbiting satellites, but the technology demonstrator will undergo its biggest trial in transit to the Moon – passing through the Earth’s Van Allen…

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Houston, We Have the Holiday Cookies

NeRD

Supporting the International Space Station is an around-the-clock responsibility for NASA and its international partners. This means there is always a team of flight operations and payload personnel working with the orbiting laboratory’s crew – including overnight, on weekends, and during the holidays. At Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control Center (MCC) in Houston, flight directors organize fun activities to help these teams build camaraderie and celebrate holidays while they work, no matter the hour. “Working in mission control is a very rewarding job, but it also demands a lot from…

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SpaceX to launch Starship megarocket’s Flight 7 test mission on Jan. 13

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SpaceX’s Starship will fly for the seventh time ever early next week, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX announced today (Jan. 8) that it’s targeting Monday (Jan. 13) for Flight 7 of Starship, the 400-foot-tall (122 meters), fully reusable megarocket designed to help humanity settle the moon and Mars. Starship is scheduled to lift off Monday at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) from Starbase, SpaceX‘s manufacturing and launch site in South Texas. You’ll be able to watch the action live; the company will webcast the flight beginning about 35…

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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab closed due to raging LA fires

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An approaching wildfire has forced the closure of NASA’s lead center for robotic planetary exploration. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which lies at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains just north of Los Angeles, has been temporarily shuttered due to the Eaton fire, which is raging nearby. “JPL is closed except for emergency personnel. No fire damage so far (some wind damage) but it is very close to the lab. Hundreds of JPLers have been evacuated from their homes & many have lost homes. Special thx to our emergency…

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Electrodynamic Dust Shield Heading to Moon on Firefly Lander

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Inside of the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) is in view on Jan. 18, 2023. The dust shield is one of the payloads that will fly aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. NASA/Cory Huston Defeating dust may be a small concern for most people on Earth, but for astronauts and spacecraft destined for the Moon or Mars, it is a significant hazard that must be mitigated. That’s…

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Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom

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Bill Nye was recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his dedication to science education. Nye, popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, television presenter and CEO of the Planetary Society. Nye was among 19 honorees to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom — United States’ highest civilian honor — at a White House ceremony held on Jan. 4. “Bill Nye has inspired and influenced generations of American students as ‘Bill Nye the Science Guy,’” officials wrote in a statement from…

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Astronaut Set to Patch NASA’s X-ray Telescope Aboard Space Station

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4 min read Astronaut Set to Patch NASA’s X-ray Telescope Aboard Space Station NASA astronaut Nick Hague will install patches to the agency’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope on the International Space Station as part of a spacewalk scheduled for Jan. 16. Hague, along with astronaut Suni Williams, will also complete other tasks during the outing. NICER will be the first NASA observatory repaired on-orbit since the last servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009. Hague and other astronauts, including Don Pettit, who is also currently on the…

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NASA’s 2024 International Space Station Achievements

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City lights streak across Earth and an aurora is visible on the horizon as the International Space Station passes over Lake Michigan. NASA For more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth for the benefit of humanity. The space station is a springboard to NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including future missions to the Moon under Artemis, and ultimately, human exploration of Mars. Read more about the groundbreaking work…

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