Author: NeRD

NASA Engineer Carries Indigenous Roots into New Aviation Era

NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Abigail Reigner, a systems engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, supports the agency’s research in electrified aircraft propulsion to enable more sustainable air travel. Behind her is a 25% scale model of NASA’s SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan aircraft concept used to test and demonstrate hybrid electric propulsion systems for emission reductions and performance boosts in future commercial aircraft. Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Abigail Reigner spent most of her childhood miles away…

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How to watch SpaceX launch Flight 6 of its Starship megarocket today

NeRD

Just before sunset this evening (Nov. 19) on the outskirts of the southernmost town in Texas, SpaceX’s Starship rocket is scheduled to launch on its sixth test flight to space, and you can watch it live on Space.com. The two-stage reusable vehicle is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, consisting of the Starship upper stage and its Super Heavy booster. Today’s launch, designated Integrated Flight Test-6 (IFT-6), is scheduled to lift off during a 30-minute window that opens at 5:00 p.m. EST (2100 GMT; 4 p.m. local Texas…

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Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars (Sulfate-Bearing Unit to the West of Upper Gediz Vallis)

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 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 3 min read Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars…

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‘Star Trek Generations’ at 30: Director David Carson reflects on The Nexus and Kirk’s quiet death (exclusive)

NeRD

“They say time is the fire in which we burn” Today marks the 30th anniversary of Paramount Pictures’ “Star Trek Generations,” an extremely important and entertaining 7th entry in the Star Trek movie franchise that acted as a bridge between “The Original Series‘” Enterprise crew led by James T. Kirk and “The Next Generation’s” gang under the command of Jean-Luc Picard. And yes, it’s the movie that killed off William Shatner’s starship captain! Upon a recent rewatch, “Generations” holds up remarkably well with its polished visual effects by Industrial Light…

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Part Ojibwe, All NASA: Linda Spuler’s Role in Protecting Johnson Space Center 

NeRD

Linda Spuler, emergency manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, believes that everyone has a story. “Our stories highlight what we have in common, but they also make us each unique,” she said.  Spuler has worked at Johnson for over 32 years, spending most of her career in Center Operations. Her story has involved helping to coordinate emergency response teams at Johnson in preparation for natural disasters. “Since Johnson is situated on the coast, a good portion of my job revolves around planning for hurricanes,” she said.    Spuler has…

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Blue Origin targeting Nov. 22 for next space tourism launch

NeRD

Blue Origin’s ninth crewed spaceflight will lift off this week, if all goes according to plan. Jeff Bezos‘ aerospace company announced today (Nov. 18) that it’s targeting Friday (Nov. 22) for the launch of NS-28, which will send “Space Gal” Emily Calandrelli and five other people to suborbital space. Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket-capsule combo will lift off from the company’s West Texas spaceport on Friday during a window that opens at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT; 9:30 a.m. local Texas time). You can watch the action live here at…

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NASA to Provide Coverage of Progress 90 Launch, Space Station Docking

NeRD

The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress spacecraft pictured on Feb. 7, 2023, from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA NASA will provide live launch and docking coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft delivering nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Progress 90 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 7:22 a.m. EST (5:22 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, Nov. 21, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Live launch coverage will begin at 7 a.m. on NASA+ and…

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Station Science Top News: Nov. 15, 2024

NeRD

Anthocyanins protect seeds in space After exposure to space outside the International Space Station, purple-pigmented rice seeds rich in anthocyanin had higher germination rates than non-pigmented white rice seeds. This result suggests that anthocyanin, a flavonoid known to protect plants from UV irradiation, could help preserve seed viability on future space missions. Plants are key components for systems being designed to produce nutrients and recycle carbon for future sustained space habitation, but space has been shown to reduce seed viability. Tanpopo-3, part of a series of investigations from JAXA (Japan…

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First Nations Launch Winners Watch Crew-7 Launch

NeRD

Participants from the 14th First Nations Launch High-Power Rocket Competition watch NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 launch from the Banana Creek viewing site at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023. Students and advisors from University of Washington, University of Colorado-Boulder, and an international team from Queens University – this year’s First Nations Launch grand prize teams – traveled to Kennedy for a VIP tour, culminating in viewing the Crew-7 launch.

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NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is solving long-standing mysteries about the sun. Here’s what we’ve learned so far.

NeRD

On Nov. 6, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe passed within 234 miles (376 kilometers) of Venus’ surface. The purpose of this close flyby was to accomplish a gravity-assist maneuver, in which the probe would steal some of Venus‘ momentum to change the spacecraft’s orbit and bring itself even closer to the sun. The Parker Solar Probe had already made several close passes of the sun, but the recent flyby was its closest, coming within about 3.8 million miles (6 million km) of the solar surface. That’s less than nine times the…

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