Author: NeRD

Lunar Autonomy Challenge: Selected Teams

NeRD

Congratulations to the selected teams and their schools who will participate in the Lunar Autonomy Challenge! 31 teams were selected for the qualifying round, engaging 229 students from colleges and universities in 15 states. Teams will now move on to a Qualifying Round where they will virtually explore and map the lunar surface using a digital twin of NASA’s lunar mobility robot, the ISRU Pilot Excavator (IPEx). Teams will develop software that can perform set actions without human intervention, navigating the digital IPEx in the harsh, low-light conditions of the Moon. The Qualifying Round will extend to February 28, when…

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NASA JPL Unveils the Dr. Edward Stone Exploration Trail

NeRD

JPL Director Laurie Leshin, flanked by a model of the Voyager spacecraft and an image of Ed Stone, addresses the audience during the unveiling of the Dr. Edward Stone Exploration Trail on Dec. 6, 2024, at the lab. Ed Stone Memorial Plaque Dedication Ceremony Requester: Susie Woodall Date: 06-DEC-2024 Photographer: Ryan Lannom A series of plaques stretching through the heart of the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers highlights of the space explorer’s career and the Voyager mission he led. Family members, colleagues, and local dignitaries gathered on Friday, Dec. 6,…

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Orange Lava, Blue Lagoon

NeRD

Landsat 9 captured this image of lava coming from an eruptive fissure near Stóra Skógfell peak on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula. Lava from the eruption flowed across major roads and closed in on the Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist destination. This natural color scene is overlaid with an infrared signal to help distinguish the lava’s heat signature.

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La NASA identifica causa de pérdida de material del escudo térmico de Orion de Artemis I

NeRD

El 28 de junio de 2024, la nave espacial Orion de Artemis II es retirada de la Celda de Ensamblaje Final y Pruebas del Sistema (FAST, por sus siglas en inglés) y colocada en la cámara de altitud oeste dentro del Edificio de Operaciones y Revisión del Centro Espacial Kennedy de la NASA en Florida. Dentro de la cámara de altitud, la nave espacial se sometió a una serie de pruebas que simulaban las condiciones de vacío del espacio profundo. Crédito de la foto: NASA / Rad Sinyak Read this…

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NASA’s IXPE Details Shapes of Structures at Newly Discovered Black Hole

NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) has helped astronomers better understand the shapes of structures essential to a black hole – specifically, the disk of material swirling around it, and the shifting plasma region called the corona. The stellar-mass black hole, part of the binary system Swift J1727.8-1613, was discovered in the summer of 2023 during an unusual brightening event that briefly caused it to outshine nearly all other X-ray sources. It is the first of its kind to…

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NASA, USAID Launch SERVIR Central American Hub

NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, William H. Duncan, speaks to attendees at the SERVIR Central America launch in San Salvador. SERVIR SERVIR, NASA’s flagship partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), launched a new regional center, or hub, in Central America on Dec. 3. The new hub is in partnership with the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Turrialba, Costa Rica, and is supported by the USAID Central America and Mexico Regional Program. The launch…

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Geminid meteor shower peaks Dec. 13 alongside a bright moon. Here’s how to see it

NeRD

This week brings us what usually is considered to be the most satisfying of all the annual meteor displays, even surpassing the famous Perseids of August: December’s Geminid meteor shower. But as was the case with last month’s Leonid Meteors, prospective sky watchers should be aware that once again you will be facing a major obstacle in your attempt to observe this year’s Geminid performance, namely, the moon. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, 2024 will see the moon turn full on Dec. 15 and as such will seriously hamper,…

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Dwarf planet Ceres could be rich in organics, defunct spacecraft data reveals

NeRD

Using data from NASA’s now-defunct Dawn spacecraft, scientists have discovered that the dwarf planet Ceres, the second wettest body in the solar system after Earth, could have an interior reserve rich in organic materials — the building blocks of life. The results hint that Ceres may have enough internal water, organic molecules, and the energy source needed for life to exist on the dwarf planet. Of course, that alone doesn’t suggest the dwarf planet is inhabited. Dawn was a mission that explored Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid…

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NASA’s ASTRO CAMP – and its Impact – Continues to Grow in FY2024

NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) When it comes to NASA’s ASTRO CAMP®, the numbers – and impact – of the initiative to help students across the nation and world learn about NASA and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) just continue to grow and grow and grow. As in recent years, the NASA ASTRO CAMP® Community Partners (ACCP) program surpassed previous milestone marks in fiscal year 2024 by partnering with 373 community sites, including 50 outside the United States, to inspire youth, families, and educators.…

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Over 10,000 exploding stars catalogued by groundbreaking Zwicky Transient Facility

NeRD

The Zwicky Transient Facility has reached an incredible milestone: It has classified over 10,000 cosmic explosions that mark the deaths of massive stars and the feeding frenzies of vampire stellar remnants. These events, called supernovas, are undoubtedly some of the most fearsome and powerful events in the universe. Since 2012, humanity has discovered almost 16,000 supernovas. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which began operations in 2017 using the 48-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory, is responsible for almost two-thirds of these detections. That makes it the largest and arguably most successful…

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