Author: NeRD

SpaceX’s Starlink internet flies on a Boeing 777 jet for the 1st time

NeRD

SpaceX’s Starlink internet service continues to make inroads around the globe. Starlink provided Wi-Fi on a Boeing 777 jet for the first time today (Oct. 22), during a Qatar Airways flight from the Qatari capital of Doha to London. The 777 is the “largest and longest-range passenger aircraft equipped with Starlink to date,” SpaceX representatives said in an emailed statement today. #QatarAirways launches the world’s first Boeing 777 Starlink-equipped flight. @StarlinkWe are proud to be the airline that leads the way, setting new standards in the airline industry. ✈️#QatarAirwaysStarlink pic.twitter.com/347ZnclANbOctober…

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SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink broadband satellites from Florida on Oct. 23

NeRD

SpaceX plans to launch 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday evening (Oct. 23). A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight, during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 5:47 p.m. EDT (2147 GMT). SpaceX had been targeting Tuesday (Oct. 22) but called that try off due to weather concerns. SpaceX will livestream the launch on X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. If all goes according to plan, the Falcon…

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NASA Awards Custodial, Refuse Collection Contract 

NeRD

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA has selected All Native Synergies Company of Winnebego, Nebraska, to provide custodial and refuse collection services at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Custodial and Refuse Collection Services III contract is a firm-fixed-price contract with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision. Its maximum potential value is approximately $33.5 million. The performance period begins Wednesday, Oct. 23, and will extend four and a half years, with a one-year base period, four one-year options, and a six-month extension. This…

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A Dazzling Supernova

NeRD

NASA, ESA, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation), and M. Mutchler and R. Avila (STScI) This image, released on Feb. 24, 2017, shows Supernova 1987a (center) surrounded by dramatic red clouds of gas and dust within the Large Magellanic Cloud. This supernova, first discovered on Feb. 23, 1987, blazed with the power of 100 million Suns. Since that first sighting, SN 1987A has continued to fascinate astronomers with its spectacular light show. Located in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, it was the nearest supernova…

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NASA Wallops to Support October Sounding Rocket Launch

NeRD

1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This September 2024 aerial photograph shows the coastal launch range at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Wallops is the agency’s only owned-and-operated launch range. Courtesy Patrick J. Hendrickson; used with permission NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to support the launch of a suborbital sounding rocket for the U.S. Department of Defense during a launch window that runs 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT each day from Wednesday, Oct. 23 to Friday, Oct. 25.…

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Read With NASA: Books, More to Inspire Young Explorers

NeRD

Flight Engineer Joe Acaba holds a children’s book that he is reading from as part of the Story Time From Space program. Astronauts read aloud from a STEM-related children’s book while being videotaped and demonstrate simple science concepts and experiments aboard the International Space Station. Stories open up new worlds and spark curiosity in readers of all ages – and NASA is using the power of storytelling to encourage the Artemis Generation to explore STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Through the below list of reading resources – books, comics,…

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Industry Supported Battery Passivation Techniques – Request for Information

NeRD

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC) on behalf of the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s (STMD) Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) Program and is hereby soliciting information from potential sources for inputs on industry, academia, or government adopted battery passivation techniques. As part of a continual process improvement effort and potential requirement revisions, the NASA Small Spacecraft community, Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, and Orbital Debris Program Office are seeking inputs from industry on battery passivation techniques that are used by industry to satisfy the Orbital Debris Mitigation…

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What happens when black holes merge?

NeRD

Black hole mergers are beautiful — and some of the most violent events in the cosmos. Here’s how the process unfolds. The story begins with two black holes orbiting far from each other in long, lazy circles. They could have been born as a binary pair of stars, or they may have just randomly encountered each other in the depths of interstellar space. Either way, to merge, they must get close, which means losing a lot of orbital energy. The first step in stealing energy from the system is through…

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Matthew McConaughey introduces the monstrous Mara-Yama in creepy new ‘Exodus’ trailer (video)

NeRD

NEW EXODUS CINEMATIC — ‘The Mara Yama’ Reveal Trailer – YouTube Watch On “Do you know what fear is?  The Mara-Yama do.” “Exodus,” Archetype Entertainment’s expansive sci-fi RPG, could be 2025’s most sought-after gaming title. A new cinematic trailer for it, narrated by Matthew McConaughey, was just unleashed this week — and it might be the single most unsettling teaser you’ll see all year. The hideously deformed alien creatures, which were once human beings, in their odd arkship evoke a hellish air of Lovercraftian cosmic dread that viewers will not…

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Most of Earth’s meteorites may have come from the same 3 spots

NeRD

Earth is constantly getting pummeled by meteorites. We are unaware of most of them, as they burn up in our atmosphere before they hit the ground. Every now and again, though, something larger gets drawn into Earth’s gravitational field —  and when this happens, it usually spells bad news for any life living on our planet’s surface.  Scientists know that the vast majority of meteorites that come crashing down to Earth originate from the solar system‘s main asteroid belt: a region between Mars and Jupiter where irregularly shaped rocks left…

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