January 14, 2025 – NeRDs Moonbase

Here’s what NASA is sending to the moon on Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander

January 14, 2025 NeRD

Firefly Aerospace’s first mission to the moon is poised to launch in the early morning hours on Jan. 15. The company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is sharing a payload bay with another mission to the moon’s surface, the Resilience probe from private Japanese company ispace. The two are launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled to liftoff no earlier than Wednesday, at 1:11 a.m. ET (0611 GMT), from Launch Complex-39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Blue Ghost Mission 1, which Firefly has dubbed Ghost Riders in…

Rubin Observatory aces 1st image tests, gets ready to use world’s largest digital camera

January 14, 2025 NeRD

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A giant new telescope in Chile has opened its eyes for the first time — and while the view may not be impressive to some, its scientist parents are thrilled. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, an 8.4-meter telescope built by the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, successfully passed a series of critical systems tests and even snapped early images of the sky with an engineering camera. The result? A clean bill of health and an early set of images that…

What’s flying to the moon on ispace’s Resilience lunar lander?

January 14, 2025 NeRD

Japanese space exploration company ispace is all set to launch its second lunar lander early Wednesday morning (Jan. 15), but what will the spacecraft carry with it to the moon? The ispace Resilience lander will lift off atop of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday at 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 GMT), with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander also on the flight. The dual moon mission is the first of an array of lunar launches planned for 2025. Resilience…

NASA’s Webb Reveals Intricate Layers of Interstellar Dust, Gas

January 14, 2025 NeRD

Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Blog (offsite) Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image…

Best of 2024: Dinosaur Prepared to Safely Watch Solar Eclipse

January 14, 2025 NeRD

NASA/Joel Kowsky An adult Alamosaurus sports eclipse glasses outside of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, on April 6, 2024. Two days later, the total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. The NASA Headquarters photo team chose this image as one of the best from 2024. See more of the top 100 from last…

Ten NASA Science, Tech Instruments Flying to Moon on Firefly Lander

January 14, 2025 NeRD

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander getting encapsulated in SpaceX’s rocket fairing ahead of the planned liftoff for 1:11 a.m. EST Jan. 15 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida SpaceX As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the agency is preparing to fly ten instruments aboard Firefly Aerospace’s first delivery to the Moon. These science payloads and technology demonstrations will help advance our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions on the…