Month: February 2025

Sharing PLANETS Curriculum with Out-of-School Time Educators

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Explore This Section Science Science Activation Sharing PLANETS Curriculum… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   2 min read Sharing PLANETS Curriculum with Out-of-School Time Educators Out of school time (OST) educators work with youth in afterschool, community, and camp programs. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning in OST can be challenging for multiple reasons, including lack of materials and support for educators. The NASA Science Activation program’s PLANETS project – Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology,…

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Diamonds from NASA’s X-59

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NASA’s X-59 lights up the night sky with its unique Mach diamonds, also known as shock diamonds, during maximum afterburner testing at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. The test demonstrates the engine’s ability to generate the thrust required for supersonic flight, advancing NASA’s Quesst mission.

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Science in Orbit: Results Published on Space Station Research in 2024

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4 Min Read Science in Orbit: Results Published on Space Station Research in 2024 NASA and its international partners have hosted research experiments and fostered collaboration aboard the International Space Station for over 25 years. More than 4,000 investigations have been conducted, resulting in over 4,400 research publications with 361 in 2024 alone. Space station research continues to advance technology on Earth and prepare for future space exploration missions. Below is a selection of scientific results that were published over the past year. For more space station research achievements and…

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Five Facts About NASA’s Moon Bound Technology

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4 Min Read Five Facts About NASA’s Moon Bound Technology A view of the Moon from Earth, zooming up to IM-2's landing site at Mons Mouton, which is visible in amateur telescopes. Credits: NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio NASA is sending revolutionary technologies to the Moon aboard Intuitive Machines’ second lunar delivery as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface.  As part of this CLPS flight to the Moon, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate will test novel technologies…

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SpaceX wraps up investigation of Starship Flight 7 explosion (video)

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SpaceX has finished its investigation into what went wrong on the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket, which ended with a dramatic explosion. Flight 7 launched on Jan. 16, sending Starship aloft from SpaceX‘s Starbase site in South Texas. The mission was partially successful; SpaceX caught Starship’s giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, back at Starbase using the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms as planned. The rocket’s upper stage — known as Starship, or simply “Ship” — was supposed to deploy 10 dummy satellites into a suborbital trajectory and…

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NASA to Provide Coverage of Progress 91 Launch, Space Station Docking

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The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress spacecraft pictured on Aug. 13, 2024, from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA NASA will provide live launch and docking coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft delivering approximately three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 91 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 4:24 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 27 (2:24 a.m. Baikonur time, Friday, Feb. 28), on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Live launch coverage will begin at 4 p.m. on…

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Venus Blows Off Some Steam

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Tall plumes of white vapor rise from the rocky Venusian surface in this April 19, 1977, artist’s concept. NASA/Rick Guidice Tall plumes of white vapor rise from the rocky Venusian surface in this April 19, 1977, artist’s concept. A little over a year later, NASA’s Pioneer Venus 1 would launch as the first of a two-spacecraft orbiter-probe combination designed to study the atmosphere of Venus. The first American spacecraft to orbit Venus, Pioneer Venus 1 used radar to map the surface of Venus. The probe found Venus to be generally…

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SpaceX targeting Feb. 28 for next launch of Starship megarocket

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SpaceX’s Starship megarocket will fly again this week, if all goes according to plan. The company is planning to launch Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, for the eighth time on Friday (Feb. 28), Elon Musk said via X yesterday (Feb. 23). The 403.5-foot-tall (123 meters) fully reusable vehicle will lift off from Starbase, SpaceX‘s launch and manufacturing facility in South Texas. The company has not yet announced a target launch time, but you’ll almost certainly be able to watch it live whenever it happens; SpaceX has…

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Private Blue Ghost moon lander captures amazing footage of Earth behind and lunar surface below (video)

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Firefly Aerospace is primed for a lunar landing attempt on Sunday (March 2) following a series of successful maneuvers in lunar orbit. The company’s Blue Ghost lander entered lunar orbit on Feb. 13, after launching atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 15. It has since been lowering its orbit in preparation for a moon landing and is now all set for the upcoming attempt. “Blue Ghost’s third and final lunar orbit maneuver is complete! Early this morning, our #GhostRiders performed a 16-second burn with our RCS thrusters to…

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Station Science Top News: Feb. 21, 2025

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Improving space-based pharmaceutical research View of the Ice Cubes experiment #6 (Kirara) floating in the Columbus European Laboratory module aboard the International Space Station. UAE (United Arab Emirates)/Sultan Alneyadi Researchers found differences in the stability and degradation of the anti-Covid drug Remdesivir in space and on Earth on its first research flight, but not on a second. This highlights the need for more standardized procedures for pharmaceutical research in space. Long-term stability of drugs is critical for future space missions. Because multiple characteristics of spaceflight could influence chemical stability, the…

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