Month: May 2025

Sol 4553: Back to the Boxwork!

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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 Sol 4553: Back to the Boxwork! NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image of its workspace in the “boxwork” terrain area, showing resistant, ridge-like features where it will investigate the targets dubbed “Sisquoc River” and…

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A Dust Devil Photobombs Perseverance!

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Explore This Section Perseverance Home Mission Overview Rover Components Mars Rock Samples Where is Perseverance? Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mission Updates Science Overview Objectives Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Perseverance Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 3 min read A Dust Devil Photobombs Perseverance! Perseverance self portrait, acquired by the WATSON camera on Sol 1500 on Mars. The Bell Island borehole where the rover acquired a…

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NASA Tech Gives Treadmill Users a ‘Boost’  

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Boost Treadmills cofounder Sean Whalen runs on the Boost 2. The treadmill uses air pressure to counter gravity, making running possible for people with injuries and other conditions. Credit: Boost Treadmills LLC The antigravity treadmill, which has benefits in space and on Earth, was pioneered by Robert Whalen at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, in the 1980s and ’90s.  Whalen built a system that placed a pressurized bulb over the user’s upper body, creating downward pressure…

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NASA Tests New Ways to Stick the Landing in Challenging Terrain

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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Advancing new hazard detection and precision landing technologies to help future space missions successfully achieve safe and soft landings is a critical area of space research and development, particularly for future crewed missions. To support this, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is pursuing a regular cadence of flight testing on a variety of vehicles, helping researchers rapidly advance these critical systems for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.   “These flight tests directly address some of NASA’s highest-ranked…

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Integrated Testing on Horizon for Artemis II Launch Preparations

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NASA Teams responsible for preparing and launching Artemis II at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set to begin a series of integrated tests to get ready for the mission. With the upper stage of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) integrated with other elements of the rocket, engineers are set to start the tests to confirm rocket and ground systems are working and communicating as planned. While similar to the integrated testing campaign conducted for NASA’s uncrewed Artemis I test flight, engineers have added tests ahead of Artemis…

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Canon RF 35mm f/1.4L VCM lens review

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Key specs Type: Prime lens Focal length: 35mm Maximum aperture: f/1.4 Lens mount: Canon RF Weight: 19.58 oz / 555 g Dimensions: 3.01×3.90 in / 76.5×99.3 mm Filter thread: 67mm Release date: June 2024 Popular prime lenses for astrophotography often come in at 24mm or wider to allow for capturing a much wider view of the sky with little ground interest, which makes sense. But when you’re incorporating ground elements to act as significant foreground interest, slightly longer focal lengths can be advantageous. This is where 35mm lenses come into…

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Scientists capture never-before-seen plasma streams and bizarre ‘raindrops’ in sharpest-ever view of sun’s outer atmosphere (video)

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The sun’s outer atmosphere — the corona — has long intrigued scientists due to its extreme temperatures, violent eruptions and towering prominences — vast filaments of plasma extending out from the solar surface. Visible only during a total solar eclipse and blurred by Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, the corona has remained frustratingly elusive. Until now. Thanks to a breakthrough adaptive optics system called Cona, installed at the 1.6-meter Goode Solar Telescope (GST), operated by NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (CSTR) at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) in California, scientists now have…

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Could time travel tourism be the next space tourism? (op-ed)

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Can we journey through time? From H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine to The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger and “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon, time travel has captured our imagination for centuries. The concept is ever-present in all forms of sci-fi entertainment, from time-travel movies like Back to the Future and Looper, to time-looping games like The Outer Wilds, and of course, sci-fi novels. It speaks to our deepest regrets and desires — the chance to reconnect with someone now gone, to undo mistakes, or to relive our most precious…

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Cosmic Dawn Screening

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Join NASA for a free screening of Cosmic Dawn, the incredible true story of the James Webb Space Telescope–humanity’s mission to unveil the early universe, against all odds. Cosmic Dawn is the incredible true story of the James Webb Space Telescope – humanity’s largest and most powerful space telescope – on a mission to unveil the early universe, against all odds. The 90-minute documentary brings viewers on an unprecedented journey through Webb’s delicate assembly, rigorous testing, and triumphant launch, showcasing the sheer complexity and breathtaking risks involved in creating a…

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