Author: NeRD

NASA Makes Progress on Advanced Drone Safety Management System

NeRD

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory pilot controls a drone during NASA’s In-Time Aviation Safety Management System test series in collaboration with a George Washington University team July 17-18, 2024, at the U.S. Army’s Fort Devens in Devens, Massachusetts. MIT Lincoln Laboratory/Jay Couturier From agriculture and law enforcement to entertainment and disaster response, industries are increasingly turning to drones for help, but the growing volume of these aircraft will require trusted safety management systems to maintain safe operations.…

Read More

Atlas V rocket will launch Amazon’s 1st big batch of Project Kuiper internet satellites on April 9

NeRD

Amazon’s first big batch of Project Kuiper broadband satellites will lift off just a week from now, if all goes according to plan. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is scheduled to send 27 Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) on April 9, Amazon announced today (April 2). The Atlas V will lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a three-hour window that opens at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). You’ll be able to watch it live when the time comes. This will…

Read More

Artemis Astronauts & Orion Leadership Visit NASA Ames

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch tour the Arc Jet Facility at NASA’s Ames Research Center, learning more about the testing equipment’s capabilities to analyze thermal protection systems from George Raiche, thermophysics facilities branch chief at Ames. NASA/Donald Richey As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, research, testing, and development at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley has played a critical role. Recently, Ames welcomed Artemis II astronauts Christina Koch and…

Read More

‘Red Planet,’ ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Batman Forever’ star Val Kilmer dies at 65

NeRD

We all woke this morning to the sorrowful news that charismatic actor Val Kilmer had passed away yesterday at the age of 65 from pneumonia after a decade-long struggle with throat cancer, and it seems like our world is significantly less cool with the harsh reality of his demise. The often abrasive, difficult, and temperamental actor on set was a veteran Hollywood performer with an impressive career spanning over four decades, often portraying tough, individualistic characters that he immersed himself in completely by employing equal measures of rare talent, raw…

Read More

What Are the Dangers of Going to Space? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 55

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) What are the dangers of going to space? For human spaceflight, the first thing I think about is the astronauts actually strapping themselves to a rocket. And if that isn’t dangerous enough, once they launch and they’re out into space in deep exploration, we have to worry about radiation. Radiation is coming at them from all directions. From the Sun, we have solar particles. We have galactic cosmic rays that are all over in the universe. And those cause…

Read More

NASA Sets Coverage for Crew Launch to Join Station Expedition 72/73

NeRD

The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station with (pictured left to right) NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. Credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft to the International Space Station, accompanied by cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, where they will join the Expedition 72/73 crew in advancing scientific research. Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky will lift off at 1:47 a.m. EDT Tuesday, April…

Read More

X-ray Clues Reveal Destroyed Planet

NeRD

In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of fuel and expand, possibly engulfing Earth. These end stages of a star’s life can be utterly beautiful – as is the case with this planetary nebula called the Helix Nebula. Astronomers study these objects by looking at all kinds of light. This images show X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (magenta), optical light data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (orange, light blue), infrared data from the European Southern Observatory VISTA telescope (gold, dark blue), and ultraviolet data from GALEX…

Read More

NASA Continues Support for Private Astronaut Missions to Space Station

NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft by a Crew-8 member shortly after undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port as the orbital outpost was soaring 272 miles above the cloudy Patagonia region of South America. NASA NASA is seeking proposals for two new private astronaut missions to the International Space Station, targeted for 2026 and 2027, as the agency continues its commitment to expanding access to space. These private missions enable American commercial companies…

Read More

NASA’s new SPHEREx space telescope takes its 1st cosmic images: ‘The instrument team nailed it’

NeRD

You know how the James Webb Space Telescope is said to be revolutionizing astronomy because it can study wavelengths hidden to human eyes? Well, those wavelengths lie in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum — and on April 1, NASA announced its brand new infrared space telescope, SPHEREx, has officially opened its eyes to the cosmos as well. This first light, as it’s called, shows that all of the spacecraft’s systems are working just as expected. “Based on the images we are seeing, we can now say that the…

Read More

New alien abduction film ‘Watch the Skies’ is giving us Swedish Spielberg vibes (video)

NeRD

Watch the Skies Exclusive Trailer (2025) – YouTube Watch On Not since the days of Erich von Daniken’s “Chariots of the Gods,” director Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and publisher Bob Guccione’s “Omni” magazine has there been this much interest in the study, history, and research of UFOs, an arena of curiosity branded as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). The latest entry into the mysterious mire of flying saucer mania is a new abduction thriller from Sweden called “Watch The Skies.” The ominous title is a nostalgic nod…

Read More