Category: Nasa

Nasa

NASA’s Hidden Figures Honored with Congressional Gold Medals

NeRD

4 Min Read NASA’s Hidden Figures Honored with Congressional Gold Medals Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), delivers remarks during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony recognizing NASA’s Hidden Figures, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky A simple turn of phrase was all it took for U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of Katherine Johnson’s home state of West Virginia to capture the feeling in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. “It’s been said that Katherine Johnson counted everything,” she said.…

Read More

Europe’s Mars ‘fetch rover’ nails sample pick-up test in the field (video)

NeRD

European aerospace giant Airbus has taken two of its Mars rovers out for field tests in a quarry near London, showcasing for the first time a new robotic arm for autonomous sample collection on alien planets. The company also experimented with a model of its ExoMars rover, hoping to improve its navigation system to enable the robot to travel faster and explore more terrain once it reaches the Red Planet in 2028.  During the tests, the Mars Sample Fetch Rover demonstrator model named Codi received coordinates from a simulated ground…

Read More

NASA’s Europa Clipper on track for Oct. 10 launch to Jupiter’s icy moon despite radiation worries

NeRD

Three weeks from now, NASA’s Europa Clipper probe will lift off and embark on a long-awaited mission to study Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which scientists think is one of the most promising places to look for life beyond Earth. The launch appears to still be on track for Oct. 10, as per the agency’s original schedule, which comes as a relief to scientists after the team discovered a few possibly defective transistors just months prior that threatened to imperil the mission. Any signs of life on Europa would likely be…

Read More

Rocket Lab aborts launch of 5 ‘Internet of Things’ satellites at last second (video)

NeRD

Rocket Lab aborted a launch at the last second today (Sept. 18). The company’s Electron rocket was scheduled to launch five “Internet of Things” satellites for the French company Kinéis today at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) from New Zealand. The countdown clock reached zero, and Electron appeared to fire up its first-stage engines. But they immediately shut down, resulting in an abort. A Rocket Lab Electron vehicle stands on the pad just after a last-second launch abort on Sept. 18, 2024. (Image credit: Rocket Lab) “Since today’s mission required…

Read More

The Marshall Star for September 18, 2024

NeRD

18 Min Read The Marshall Star for September 18, 2024 Marshall Welcomes NASA Chief Scientist for Climate, Science Town Hall NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin, center left, joins team members at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center for a Climate and Science Town Hall on Sept. 17 in Activities Building 4316. Calvin took part in a question-and-answer session during her visit that was live streamed agencywide. Joining her in the session were, from left, Rahul Ramachandran, research scientist and senior data science strategist for the Science…

Read More

NASA’s ‘Hidden Figures’ women awarded Congressional Gold Medals

NeRD

Although they may never completely shed the label, the women who worked for NASA as human computers during the space race are no longer “hidden figures,” and they now have a medal to prove it. On Wednesday (Sept. 18), the women as a group and four individuals who have come to represent their collective experiences were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States. As authorized by Congress, the medals were bestowed to Christine Darden and posthumously to Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and…

Read More

‘Transformers One’ is an end of summer sensation certain to please fans (review)

NeRD

Transform and roll out! Exploring the nature of a fractured friendship between a young Optimus Prime and Megatron, once known as Orion Pax and D-16 billions of years ago on the living machine planet of Cybertron, Paramount’s new “Transformers One” (Sept. 20) is a supremely entertaining animated film showcasing a visual banquet of next-generation CGI from Industrial Light & Magic. What began as a Hasbro toy line and animated series in the ’80s has exploded over the decades as one of the premier sci-fi intellectual properties in the world, a…

Read More

NASA Deputy Administrator Talks Future of Agency in Silicon Valley

NeRD

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy (left) and Center Director at NASA’s Ames Research Center Eugene Tu (right) hear from Ames employees Sept. 16, 2024. NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy spent time at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, on Sept. 16, 2024, engaging with center leaders and employees to discuss strategies that could drive meaningful changes to ensure NASA remains the preeminent institution for research, technology, and engineering, and to lead science, aeronautics, and space exploration for humanity. Melroy’s visit also provided an opportunity to…

Read More

NASA Shares Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Remarks

NeRD

On Sept. 18, 2024, five Congressional Gold Medals were awarded to women who contributed to the space race, including the NASA mathematicians who helped land the first astronauts on the Moon under the agency’s Apollo Program. Credit: NASA NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released his remarks as prepared for Wednesday’s Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal ceremony in Washington. The awards recognized the women who contributed to the space race, including the NASA mathematicians who helped land the first astronauts on the Moon under the agency’s Apollo Program. “Good afternoon. “The remarkable…

Read More