Month: February 2025

Sony’s latest State of Play highlights three incredible sci-fi games coming to PlayStation 5

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We’re now halfway through the first trimester of 2025, which means that video game companies everywhere are rushing to show off some of the biggest releases arriving in the near future and 2026. On Feb. 12, Sony’s first State of Play stream of the year revealed several fantastic-looking titles from partners all over the world, and adventures set in outer space had a huge presence. Space-set science fiction games are finding lots of success right now. So much so that it’s becoming hard to keep track of them all, especially…

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The Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon

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Skywatching Science Skywatching The Next Full Moon is the Snow… Skywatching Home What’s Up Eclipses Explore the Night Sky Night Sky Network More Tips and Guides FAQ   23 Min Read The Next Full Moon is the Snow Moon A full moon hike at Bryce Canyon National Park. Credits: National Park Service The next full moon will be Wednesday morning, Feb. 12, 2025, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth longitude) at 8:53 a.m. EST. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Monday night into…

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How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Will Make a Looping Voyage to the Moon

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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer approaches the Moon as it enters its science orbit in this artist’s concept. The small satellite will orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface, producing the best-yet maps of water on the Moon. Lockheed Martin Space NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft gets covered in anti-static wrap before being shipped from Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it arrived on Jan. 29. Lockheed Martin Space Before…

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin targeting late spring for 2nd launch of powerful New Glenn rocket

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WASHINGTON, D.C.  —  The second launch of Blue Origin’s huge New Glenn rocket could be just a few months away. The 320-foot-tall (98-meter-tall) New Glenn lifted off for the first time on Jan. 16 from Florida’s Space Coast. The test flight was a success; the rocket’s upper stage successfully carried its payload, a test version of Blue Origin’s new Blue Ring spacecraft platform, to Earth orbit. A secondary objective didn’t go so well; New Glenn’s first-stage booster failed to stick its landing on a ship at sea. (This was the…

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Giving NASA’s CADRE a Hand

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One of three small lunar rovers that are part of a NASA technology demonstration called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) is prepared for shipping in a clean room at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Jan. 29, 2025.

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Tribal Library Co-Design STEM Space Workshop

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Explore This Section Science Science Activation Tribal Library Co-Design STEM… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   3 min read Tribal Library Co-Design STEM Space Workshop Christine Shupla and Claire Ratcliffe Adams, from the NASA Science Activation program’s NASA@ My Library project, facilitated a professional development Co-Design Space Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Workshop for Tribal libraries on August 29, 2024, hosted at the New Mexico State Library. The workshop was planned with input from Cassandra Osterloh (the New Mexico…

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Heart Health

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4 Min Read Heart Health Jessica Meir conducts cardiac research in the space station’s Life Sciences Glovebox. Credits: NASA Science in Space: February 2025 February was first proclaimed as American Heart Month in 1964. Since then, its 28 (or 29) days have served as an opportunity to encourage people to focus on their cardiovascular health. The International Space Station serves as a platform for a variety of ongoing research on human health, including how different body systems adapt to weightlessness. This research includes assessing cardiovascular health in astronauts during and…

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25 Years Ago: STS-99, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

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On Feb. 11, 2000, space shuttle Endeavour took to the skies on its 14th trip into space on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The international STS-99 crew included Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele of Germany representing the European Space Agency, Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, who served as payload commander on the mission, and Mamoru Mohri of the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan, now the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.   During their 11-day mission, the astronauts used the radar instruments in Endeavour’s payload…

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Tiny plasma jets on the sun drive the elusive solar wind, Europe’s Solar Orbiter reveals

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Solar scientists have found tiny, short-lived jets of energy on our sun to be the primary drivers of the solar wind, marking a step toward decoding our star’s elusive behavior and, eventually, refining predictions of its storms. The “solar wind” refers to pockets of energetic particles blasted out from the sun. These particles are occasionally directed toward Earth, like last summer when a rare cluster of such storms rained on our planet and sparked breathtaking auroras across the globe — likely the strongest auroras we’ve seen in centuries. The solar…

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NASA’s Polar Ice Experiment Paves Way for Future Moon Missions 

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Artistic rendering of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander on the surface of the Moon. Credit: Intuitive Machines NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) is preparing to explore the Moon’s subsurface and analyze where lunar resources may reside. The experiment’s two key instruments will demonstrate our ability to extract and analyze lunar soil to better understand the lunar environment and subsurface resources, paving the way for sustainable human exploration under the agency’s Artemis campaign for the benefit of all.  Its two instruments will work in tandem: The Regolith and Ice Drill…

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