Author: NeRD

Caroline Cawthon: Supporting America’s Future in Low Earth Orbit 

NeRD

Since joining NASA in 2017 as a contractor supporting the International Space Station, Caroline Cawthon has held many roles supporting real-time operations as a certified flight controller, team lead, and lead systems engineer.   Caroline Cawthon’s official NASA portrait. NASA is one of the biggest most impressive networks of engineering, science, and space program expertise in the world and to not leverage that experience in mentorship would be a waste. Caroline Cawthon CLDP Engineering and Integration Lead Now, she is supporting America’s future in orbit as the systems engineering and integration…

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NASA Selects Goddard Safety and Mission Assurance Contractor

NeRD

Credit: NASA NASA has selected ARES Technical Services of McLean, Virginia, to provide safety and mission assurance services at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Safety and Mission Assurance Services III contract is a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with an estimated total value of $226 million. The contract will have a five-year effective ordering period starting on June 1, 2025, with an optional six-month extension period. Under the contract, the vendor will provide support to the agency’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at…

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NASA Tech Developed for Home Health Monitoring  

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA uses radio frequency (RF) for a variety of tasks in space, including communications. The Europa Clipper RF panel — the box with the copper wiring near the top — will send data carried by radio waves through the spacecraft between the electronics and eight antennas. Credit: NASA Even before we’re aware of heart trouble or related health issues, our bodies give off warning signs in the form of vibrations. Technology to detect these signals has ranged from electrodes and patches to watches.…

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Connected Learning Ecosystems: Educators Gather to Empower Learners and Themselves

NeRD

Explore This Section Science Science Activation Connected Learning Ecosystems:… Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   5 min read Connected Learning Ecosystems: Educators Gather to Empower Learners and Themselves Many educators would agree that despite working and communicating with dozens, even hundreds, of people each year, the role can feel isolating. Learners come and go, leaving educators to question: Was anything retained? Will they take this knowledge home? Will they share it at their after-school activities? How will it ultimately impact…

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Back to Earth, Forward to the Future: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Returns  

NeRD

After months of groundbreaking research, exploration, and teamwork aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 has returned to Earth.   NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, splashed down safely on March 18, 2025, as a pod of dolphins circled the Dragon spacecraft near Tallahassee, Florida.  NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, March 18, 2025. NASA/Keegan Barber Williams and Wilmore…

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North America is ‘dripping’ down into Earth’s mantle, scientists discover

NeRD

An ancient slab of Earth’s crust buried deep beneath the Midwest is sucking huge swatches of present-day’s North American crust down into the mantle, researchers say. The slab’s pull has created giant “drips” that hang from the underside of the continent down to about 400 miles (640 kilometers) deep inside the mantle, according to a new study. These drips are located beneath an area spanning from Michigan to Nebraska and Alabama, but their presence appears to be impacting the entire continent. The dripping area looks like a large funnel, with…

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‘Doctor Who’ Season 2 premieres this week with a robot revolution and AI terrors

NeRD

Doctor Who | Season 2 Official Trailer | Disney+ – YouTube Watch On The sands of time might be running out for Ncuti Gatwa’s turn in the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor since rumors circulated this year that he’ll exit for creative endeavors in Los Angeles after this run. But if so, there’s still some gas in the tank for one more trip around the universe as this whirlwind “Doctor Who” Season 2 trailer plainly reveals. Last season saw a significant viewer drop-off and longtime fans’ underwhelming response to the…

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Lyrid meteor shower 2025 peaks this month: Could we be in for a surprise outburst this year?

NeRD

After a lull of some three and a half months, enthusiasts who watch the night sky specifically for “shooting” or “falling” stars will have something to look forward to this month. It will be the return of a faithful meteor shower, recognized as one of, if not the oldest known meteor display: the Lyrid meteors. While there are many dozens of meteor showers that occur during the course of the year, only ten are recognized as the ‘principal’ or very best meteor displays. The last such shower to take place…

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SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida’s Space Coast (photos)

NeRD

SpaceX sent another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida on Saturday night (April 5). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink craft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday at 11:07 p.m. EDT (0307 GMT on Sunday, April 6). About eight minutes after launch, the rocket’s first stage came back to Earth for a landing on the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions,” which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the 19th launch and landing for this particular booster,…

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