Category: Nasa

Nasa

SpaceX rolls out rocket for historic Fram2 astronaut flight over Earth’s poles (photos)

NeRD

The hardware that will fly a historic private astronaut mission has made it to the launch pad. On Saturday (March 29), SpaceX posted photos on X of the Fram2 mission’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule rolling out to Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The milestone keeps Fram2 on track to launch on Monday evening (March 31). Liftoff is scheduled for 9:46 p.m. EDT (0146 GMT on April 1), though there are three additional instantaneous opportunities during the 4.5-hour-long launch window. Fram2, which is…

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ISS National Lab explores the future of space in new podcast ‘Between a Rocket and a Hard Space’

NeRD

It seems like everyone on Earth — and beyond — is getting into the podcast business these days. The International Space Station National Laboratory just launched “Between a Rocket and a Hard Space,” a brand-new podcast that explores the future of space innovation. The series will delve into the discoveries, innovations, projects and personalities helping to forge the future of space. Episodes can be accessed via all major platforms, including Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, Spotify and YouTube. Key artwork for the ISS National Laboratory’s new podcast series. (Image credit: NASA/ISS National…

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Earth’s sea ice hits all-time low, NASA satellites reveal

NeRD

New research from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado measured Arctic sea ice cover on March 22, during what should’ve been its annual peak. In conclusion, the agency reported seeing 5.53 million square miles (14.33 million square kilometers) of sea ice — for context, that’s the lowest Arctic winter sea ice levels have ever been. To make matters worse, NASA scientists also discovered that, this year, summer ice in the Antarctic retreated to 764,000 square miles (1.98 million square kilometers) as of March 1,…

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 154 — The View From On High

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The View From On High – Live From the International Space Station – YouTube Watch On On Episode 154 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Space TV director Liam Kennedy about bringing content and video from the International Space Station down to Earth. If you’ve ever wondered what the view from the International Space Station might look like in real-time, this is your episode. Or if you just want to know more about who’s up there and what’s going on at the ISS on…

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1st solar eclipse of 2025 puts on stunning show for skywatchers around the world (photos)

NeRD

This morning (March 29), during a partial solar eclipse, the moon bit off more than it could chew, taking a dramatic ‘bite’ out of the sun. From crisp crescent-shaped suns to the rare ‘devil’s horns’ and ‘double sunrise,’ March’s solar eclipse left skywatchers in awe — especially those in the right place at the right time. A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon partially covers the sun, leaving a glowing crescent. Globally, the eclipse began at 4:50 a.m. EDT (0850 GMT), with the maximum eclipse peaking at 6:47 a.m.…

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X-rays, mushrooms and more: The science riding on SpaceX’s Fram2 astronaut mission around Earth’s poles

NeRD

A new mission from SpaceX will soon send humans over Earth’s poles for the first time ever. Launching no earlier than Monday (March 31), the privately funded, four-day Fram2 mission has quite a few tasks to accomplish in a short timespan. The Fram2 crew will be the first people to observe the polar regions from low Earth orbit, and they’ll work on experiments and projects designed to forward our understanding of long-duration spaceflight. The mission will also mark the first time that crews have used an X-ray machine on humans…

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NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for SpaceX Starship

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NASA logo. NASA has awarded SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, a modification under the NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to add Starship to their existing Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch service offerings. The NLS II contracts provide a broad range of commercial launch services for NASA’s planetary, Earth-observing, exploration, and scientific satellites. These high-priority, low and medium risk tolerant missions have full NASA technical oversight and mission assurance, resulting in the highest probability of launch success. The NLS II contracts are multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, with an ordering period through…

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Doom games in order: Chronological and release date

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Doom is the daddy of first-person shooters and one of the most influential games of all time, so we battled through hell and put together these lists of the Doom games in order, both by chronological timeline and release date. Doom: The Dark Ages is set to arrive on May 15, 2025, and we can hardly wait! If you’re a newcomer or only played the last two installments, you might be a bit confused about the loose timeline of the sci-fi-horror-fantasy series. Now, before diehards move in for a glory…

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NASA Boosts Efficiency with Custom X-66 Flooring

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Eric Garza, an engineering technician in the Experimental Fabrication Shop at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, cuts plywood to size for temporary floorboards for the X-66 experimental demonstrator aircraft on Aug. 26, 2024. NASA/Steve Freeman NASA designed temporary floorboards for the MD-90 aircraft to use while it is transformed into the X-66 experimental demonstrator aircraft. These floorboards will protect the original flooring and streamline the modification process. Supporting the agency’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, a small…

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‘Chappie’ is 10 years old, and Blomkamp’s flawed humanist take on robots and AI is more relevant than ever

NeRD

It’s safe to say Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 (2009) became an instant modern sci-fi classic, which explains why both moviegoers and Hollywood studios had massive expectations for the filmmaker’s follow-up flicks: Elysium (2013) and Chappie (2015). Neither reached the same heights and remain divisive to this day, but we think the latter is worth a quick rewatch a decade later. Most can agree that Blomkamp has a knack for delivering grounded and tangible sci-fi worlds on reasonable production budgets. It’s been the key to his long-term success, despite recent failure…

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