Author: NeRD

NASA Statement on Nomination of Greg Autry for Agency CFO

NeRD

Photo of Greg Autry Credit: University of Central Florida The following is a statement from NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro regarding the nomination by President Donald Trump of Greg Autry on March 24 to serve as the agency’s chief financial officer (CFO): “The NASA CFO is responsible for executing more than $25 billion in agency funding across a variety of missions, including the Moon and Mars, for the benefit of humanity. With his previous experience as the White House liaison during President Trump’s first administration, as well as his extensive…

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“The monster will come for us all!” Mon Mothma rouses the rebels in new ‘Andor’ Season 2 trailer

NeRD

Andor | Official Trailer | Final Season Streaming April 22 on Disney+ – YouTube Watch On We’re a mere month away from the climactic second season of Disney+’s “Andor: A Star Wars Story” that will take us straight up to the beginning of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” A fresh Disney-delivered trailer has just dropped, and it makes us want to join those pesky rebels and charge blindly into the fray in defense of galactic freedom. Well, until we see the dreaded Death Star! Arriving on April 22, “Andor”…

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‘Earth to Space’ art festival set to launch at Kennedy Center this week

NeRD

A nearly month-long space mission is ready to lift off, with final preparations being made at the Kennedy Center. To be clear, not NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but rather the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. “Earth to Space: Arts Breaking the Sky” is set to transform the United States’ national cultural hub into a launch pad for three weeks of live performances, films, art, interactive exhibits and discussions, all inspired by spaceflight and the wonders of the universe. The festival will see…

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NASA Cloud Software Helps Companies Find their Place in Space 

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Double Asteroid Redirection Test required extreme precision in mission planning to achieve its mission of impacting an asteroid. The founders of Continuum Space worked on astrodynamics relating to this mission, which they used to inform their product. NASA Planning space missions is a very involved process, ensuring orbits are lined up and spacecraft have enough fuel is imperative to the long-term survival of orbital assets. Continuum Space Systems Inc. of Pasadena, California, produces a cloud-based platform that gives…

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NASA’s Spirit Rover Gets Looked Over

NeRD

NASA Technicians do final checks on NASA’s Spirit rover in this image from March 28, 2003. The rover – and its twin, Opportunity – studied the history of climate and water at sites on Mars where conditions may once have been favorable to life. Each rover is about the size of a golf cart and seven times heavier (about 405 pounds or 185 kilograms) than the Sojourner rover launched on the Mars Pathfinder to Mars mission in 1996. Spirit and Opportunity were sent to opposite sides of Mars to locations…

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NASA completes SLS core stage stacking for Artemis 2 moon mission (photos)

NeRD

NASA’s next moon rocket is coming together, piece by piece. The core stage of NASA’s next Space Launch System (SLS) rocket recently completed integration with the vehicle’s side boosters inside the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida. SLS will launch NASA’s Artemis 2 mission to fly four astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft around the moon and back sometime next year. “Technicians joined the core stage March 23 with the stacked solid rocket boosters for the mission at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC),” NASA officials wrote in a statement Monday (March…

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Investigaciones de la NASA en la estación espacial ayudan a impulsar la ciencia lunar

NeRD

En esta ilustración se muestra al telescopio NICER (a la izquierda) montado en la Estación Espacial Internacional y al telescopio LEXI (a la derecha) sujeto a la parte superior del módulo Blue Ghost de Firefly Aerospace. NASA/Firefly Aerospace La Estación Espacial Internacional sustenta una amplia gama de actividades científicas, desde la observación de nuestro universo hasta el logro de avances en investigaciones médicas, y es un campo de pruebas activo en la tecnología para futuras misiones de exploración en la Luna y más allá. La misión Blue Ghost 1 de Firefly…

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Sols 4488-4490: Progress Through the Ankle-Breaking Terrain (West of Texoli Butte, Climbing Southward)

NeRD

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 3 min read Sols 4488-4490: Progress Through the Ankle-Breaking Terrain (West of Texoli Butte, Climbing Southward) NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image showing its robotic arm in action; the view also illustrates bedding on a light-toned bedrock…

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‘Cosmic tornado’ swirls in breathtaking new James Webb Space Telescope image

NeRD

A cosmic coincidence has led to one of the most amazing images ever captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The dramatic outflow from a newborn star, known as Herbig-Haro 49/50 (HH 49/50), just so happened to align perfectly with a distant spiral galaxy, creating this mesmerizing celestial scene. Herbig-Haro objects are glowing clouds of gas and dust shaped by newborn stars or protostars. They form when jets of charged particles, ejected from young stars at immense speeds, slam into surrounding material, creating brilliant, ever-changing patterns in the sky.…

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Rare ‘solar horns’ will appear during partial solar eclipse on March 29 — Here are 6 of the best places in the US and Canada to see the unusual phenomenon

NeRD

There’s something special about the partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025. For North Americans in the right place at the right time — and who get clear skies — there’s a chance to see the unique spectacle of “solar horns,” a phenomenon where the cusps of an eclipsed crescent sun appear as two distinct points above the horizon during sunrise. For observers in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada aiming to witness this rare event, selecting the optimal location is crucial. Selecting a location for ‘solar horns’ “Solar horns”…

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