Day: February 28, 2025

Smooshing for Science: A Flat-Out Success

NeRD

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read Smooshing for Science: A Flat-Out Success NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its SHERLOC WATSON camera, located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The view is looking down…

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US Space Operations Command unveils new motto in head banging video: ‘Always the hunter’

NeRD

US Space Operations Command recently unveiled a new motto: “Semper Venator,” Latin for “Always the hunter.” In a new video featuring a score of crunchy metal guitars and a thumping drumbeat under spacy orchestral notes, the short video begins with a nod to the Orion constellation, named after a hunter from Greek mythology. The rest of the video is a montage of U.S. Space Force members carrying out their duties. The U.S. Space Force was established in 2019. The following year, on Oct. 21, the fledgling military branch activated Space…

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Scientists warn of consequences as over 800 NOAA workers are fired: ‘Censoring science does not change the facts’

NeRD

Scientists warn that the Trump administration’s abrupt firing of hundreds of weather forecasters and climate experts across NOAA will curtail important climate research and could result in preventable deaths during extreme weather events and related disasters. Over 800 employees across most divisions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — a premier U.S. federal agency at the forefront of climate research that provides timely weather forecasts to the public for free — were dismissed in mass layoffs that began Thursday afternoon (Feb. 27). The cuts targeted probationary employees, a…

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NASA Uses New Technology to Understand California Wildfires

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Compact Fire Infrared Radiance Spectral tracker, or C-FIRST, is managed an operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and supported by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office. Combining state-of-the-art imaging technology with a compact design, C-FIRST enables scientists to gather data about fires and their impacts on ecosystems with greater accuracy and speed than other instruments. C-FIRST was developed as a spaceborne instrument, and flew onboard NASA’s B200 aircraft in January 2025 to conduct an airborne test. NASA/JPL-Caltech The January…

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What’s Up: March 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA

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Skywatching Science Skywatching What’s Up: March 2025… Skywatching Home What’s Up What to See Tonight Moon Guide Eclipses Meteor Showers More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ   A Fast-Moving Planet and a Crimson Moon! Catch Mercury if you can, then stay up late for a total lunar eclipse, and learn the truth about the dark side of the Moon. Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planets Visibility: Mercury: Speedy Mercury is visible beneath Venus for the first week and a half of March, for about 30 minutes each evening, as sunset…

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NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic jet clears ‘major hurdle’ ahead of 1st flight (photos)

NeRD

NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft continues to make progress toward its first flight with a new successful round of testing. The X-59 “quiet” supersonic jet was designed to break the sound barrier without producing the thunderous sonic booms that typically accompany supersonic flight. And based on the results of the vehicle’s latest tests, conducted at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the X-59 might accomplish that feat soon. NASA and Lockheed Martin, the latter of which built the X-59, recently put the aircraft through electromagnetic interference testing on…

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