Author: NeRD

What is Air Quality?

NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Clean air is essential for healthy living, but according to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost 99% of the global population breathes air exceeding their guideline limits of air pollution. “Air quality is a measure of how much stuff is in the air, which includes particulates and gaseous pollutants,” said Kristina Pistone, a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. Pistone’s research covers both atmospheric and climate areas, with a focus on the effect of atmospheric particles on climate…

Read More

Sols 4336-4337: Where the Streets Have No Name

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 More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read Sols 4336-4337: Where the Streets Have No Name NASA’s…

Read More

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is still visible in the night sky, but not for long

NeRD

Have you seen comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS yet? If you’ve not been able to glimpse the bright, icy space rock that’s traveled from the edge of the solar system, it’s not too late. But you need to see it soon.  The coma and long tail of comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, also called C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), is currently shining at magnitude +0.5. That’s well within the grasp of the human eye. It’s likely now past its best, but only just, and will likely remain a naked-eye object after sunset in the west until, and possibly…

Read More

Europe launches ambitious ‘Moonlight’ program to support lunar exploration

NeRD

MILAN — The European Space Agency (ESA) is building infrastructure to support lunar exploration. ESA officially launched the Moonlight Lunar Communications and Navigation Services (LCNS) program here at the International Astronautical Congress on Tuesday (Oct. 15), with the aim of providing services for the more than 400 moon missions planned by space agencies and private companies over the next two decades. Moonlight will be a constellation of five lunar satellites, which together will enable precise, autonomous landings and surface mobility, according to ESA, while facilitating high-speed communication and data transfer…

Read More

NASA Selects Two Teams to Advance Life Sciences Research in Space 

NeRD

3 min read NASA Selects Two Teams to Advance Life Sciences Research in Space  NASA announced two awards Thursday to establish scientific consortia – multi-institutional coalitions to conduct ground-based studies that help address the agency’s goals of maintaining a sustained human presence in space. These consortia will focus on biological systems research in the areas of animal and human models, plants, and microbiology. When fully implemented, the awards for these consortia will total about $5 million.  Space biology efforts at NASA use the unique environment of space to conduct experiments…

Read More

The best 90s sci-fi movies

NeRD

The 1990s was a time of firsts in the sci-fi genre – the beginnings of much-loved franchises, an exploration of new technologies, and a chance for directors to create new worlds like never before. It was a decade of risk-taking and trendsetting that still to this day continues to inspire the movie landscape from reboots to remakes, to sequels and prequels. Whether they’ve been successful or not, there’s no doubt that the 1990s most certainly thrived.  Big A-List stars were invested in the genre, much like the best 80s sci-fi…

Read More

Imagining the Future

NeRD

An unidentified illustration of NASA’s space shuttle. The space shuttle fleet flew 135 missions and helped construct the International Space Station between the first launch on April 12, 1981 and the final landing on July 21, 2011. There were five orbiters: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.

Read More

Iowa Students to Connect with NASA Astronaut Aboard Space Station

NeRD

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Nick Hague in the space station cupola. (Credit: NASA) Students from Iowa will have the opportunity to hear NASA astronaut Nick Hague answer their prerecorded questions while he’s serving an expedition aboard the International Space Station on Monday, Oct. 21. Watch the 20-minute space-to-Earth call at 11:40 a.m. EDT on NASA+. Students from Iowa State University in Ames, First Robotics Clubs, World Food Prize Global Youth Institute, and Plant the Moon teams will focus on food production in space. Learn how to watch…

Read More

NASA’s SpaceX 31st Resupply Mission to Launch Experiments to Station

NeRD

NASA and its international partners are launching scientific investigations on SpaceX’s 31st commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station including studies of solar wind, a radiation-tolerant moss, spacecraft materials, and cold welding in space. The company’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Read more about some of the research making the journey to the orbiting laboratory: Measuring solar wind The CODEX (COronal Diagnostic EXperiment) examines the solar wind, creating a globally comprehensive data set to help scientists validate theories for…

Read More

NASA Pilots Add Perspective to Research

NeRD

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA pilots Nils Larson and Wayne Ringelberg head for a mission debrief after flying a NASA F/A-18 at Mach 1.38 to create sonic booms as part of the Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence flight series at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, to study sonic boom signatures with and without the element of atmospheric turbulence. NASA/Lauren Hughes NASA research pilots are experts on how to achieve the right flight-test conditions for experiments and the tools needed for successful…

Read More