Category: General

Anything and everything space

NASA, Partners Select Universities for CubeSat Summer Program

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College students attend the 2023 Mission Concept kickoff event at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in May 2023. At the event students work with officials from NASA and branches of the U.S. military to learn more about creating CubeSat mission launch proposals. NASA EDGE Eight university teams have been selected to work with NASA and the U.S. military to improve their small satellite proposals, ultimately increasing the possibility of flying their technology in space, and potentially launching their own careers in the space industry. NASA’s CSLI (CubeSat Launch Initiative) is…

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IXPE Operations Update

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1 min read IXPE Operations Update On March 23, NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) stopped transmitting valid telemetry data. The only previous interruption of IXPE science observations was due to a similar issue in June of 2023. On March 26, using procedures developed following that previous interruption, the team initiated a spacecraft avionics reset to address the issue, which put IXPE into a planned safe mode. The team has confirmed that IXPE is once again transmitting valid telemetry data and is now working to resume science operations, in as…

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Find Your Place In Space Week

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The National Space Council invites you to join us for Find Your Place in Space Week. From April 6-13, 2024 museums, science centers, companies, schools, and organizations will engage with communities across the nation to highlight all that space is, has to offer, and the benefits of space for Earth. We know that too many people are unaware of the importance of space to their everyday lives, to Earth, or know that their expertise and talents are needed in the industry.  Through this effort, we want people from all communities…

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NASA Challenge Invites Artemis Generation Coders to Johnson Space Center

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NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement has selected seven student teams to participate in a culminating event for the 2024 App Development Challenge (ADC), one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The coding challenge invites middle and high school student teams to contribute to deep space exploration missions by developing solutions to real-world technical problems. Screenshot of the app submitted by ADC Top Team, Team Spaghetti Code from Trinity Christian School in Morgantown, West Virginia. The ADC, a part of NASA’s Next Gen STEM…

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NASA Artemis Mission Progresses with SpaceX Starship Test Flight

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SpaceX launched the third integrated flight test of its Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage from the company’s Starbase orbital launch pad at 8:25 a.m. CT on March 14. This flight test is an important milestone toward providing NASA with a Starship HLS for its Artemis missions. SpaceX As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon for the benefit of all, the agency is working with SpaceX to develop the company’s Starship human landing system (HLS), which will land astronauts near the Moon’s South Pole…

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NASA Expanding Lunar Exploration with Upgraded SLS Mega Rocket Design

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A final round of certification testing for production of new RS-25 engines to power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, beginning with Artemis V, is underway at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.  Block 1B will also be built to house new-production RS-25 core stage engines that will operate routinely at 111% of their rated power versus the Block 1 RS-25 engines that operate at 109%, providing almost 2,000 more pounds of payload to the Moon. NASA By: Martin Burkey As NASA prepares for its first crewed…

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Communications Services Project

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Overview NASA’s Communications Services Project, known as CSP, is pioneering a new era of space communications by partnering with industry to provide commercial space relay communications services for NASA missions near Earth. CSP’s goal is to validate and deliver these commercial communication services to the Near Space Network by 2030. To meet this goal, CSP provided $278.5 million in funding to six domestic partners to develop and demonstrate space relay communication capabilities. CSP aims to deliver innovative capabilities to meet NASA mission needs, while simultaneously supporting the growing commercial space…

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NASA Moon to Mars Architecture Workshops Promote Collaboration 

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NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy welcomes 2024 Moon to Mars Architecture Workshop attendees from the stage of the Fred Kavli at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. NASA/Keegan Barber NASA held two workshops in mid-February to share the latest progress on the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture and solicit feedback from industry, academia, and the international community. Representatives from 18 countries, 85 aerospace companies, and 25 academic institutions shared their perspectives on NASA’s roadmap for long-term lunar exploration and humanity’s journey to the Red Planet.  50 attendees representing 18 countries attended…

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Can Volcanic Super Eruptions Lead to Major Cooling? Study Suggests No

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Some 74,000 years ago, the Toba volcano in Indonesia exploded with a force 1,000 times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The mystery is what happened after that – namely, to what degree that extreme explosion might have cooled global temperatures. Crew aboard the International Space Station photographed the eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily in October 2002. Ashfall was reported more than 350 miles away. When it comes to explosive power, however, no eruption in modern times can compare with a super eruption – which…

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Student Teams to Help Fill the Inflatable Void with Latest Student Challenge  

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3 Min Read Student Teams to Help Fill the Inflatable Void with Latest Student Challenge   This year will be a “BIG” year for several college and university teams as they research, design, and demonstrate novel inflatable systems configured for future lunar operations through a NASA-sponsored engineering competition. NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge asked student innovators to propose novel inflatable component and system concepts that could benefit future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond. The Inflatable Systems for Lunar Operations theme allowed teams to submit various…

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