Jupiter’s Turbulent Atmosphere

NeRD

JunoCam, the visible light imager aboard NASA’s Juno, captured this view of Jupiter’s northern high latitudes during the spacecraft’s 69th flyby of the giant planet on Jan. 28, 2025. Jupiter’s belts and zones stand out in this enhanced color rendition, along with the turbulence along their edges caused by winds going in different directions.

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5 Tips to Craft a Standout NASA Internship Application

NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Four NASA interns pose in front of the NASA Pavilion at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, an annual airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. NASA A NASA internship provides a stellar opportunity to launch your future as part of America’s aerospace workforce. NASA interns take on meaningful work and contribute to exciting agency projects with the guidance of a supportive mentor. The internship program regularly ranks as the nation’s most prestigious and competition is steep: in fiscal year 2024, NASA’s Office of…

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NASA celebrated this employee’s story of resilience, then tried to scrub it from the internet. Then fired her.

NeRD

“People see me now, and they just assume, ‘oh, she had it easy,’” she says, but Rose Ferreira has had it anything but easy. The trajectory of her life has been so turbulent, in fact, that NASA, her previous employer, published a feature article about her determination on its website. That story chronicles her journey from a poverty-stricken childhood in the Caribbean and years living unhoused, to pursuing her education and rising to become a NASA intern, which ultimately led to working at the space agency full-time. In January, that…

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The 2025 full Flower Moon rises tonight: Here’s what to expect

NeRD

The Full Flower Moon 2025 rises tonight! The May full moon gets its name from the abundance of wildflowers that spring into life at this time of year, and it promises a stunning view for skywatchers around the world. The Flower Moon will be 100% illuminated at 12:56 p.m. EDT (17:56 GMT) today (May 12), at which point Earth’s closest celestial companion will be well below the horizon for skywatchers across the U.S. This sets the stage for a dramatic lunar entry when the full moon rises over the southeastern…

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How do you keep reusable spacecraft cool during reentry? Make them ‘sweat’

NeRD

An innovative approach for fully reusable spacecraft suggests making them “sweat” to survive the scorching heat during reentry to Earth’s atmosphere, allowing them to land ready for another flight. A research team from Texas A&M University has partnered with Canopy Aerospace to develop and test a 3D-printed material that releases or “sweats” a coolant gas to protect spacecraft from the intense heat encountered when travelling back to Earth at high speeds. This innovative design uses a method called transpiration cooling, whereby a layer of gas is released along the vehicle’s…

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I went to STARMUS La Palma for science and music — I came back in love

NeRD

They call La Palma the island of stars, and in April 2025, it became the epicenter for science, stargazing and music. I was there for STARMUS, a festival that brings together Nobel Prize winners, astronauts, musicians and science enthusiasts for several days of talks, performances and cosmic inspiration. But nothing prepared me for the moment I first looked up at the night sky. Standing upon the rooftop terrace of our hotel, in the beautiful town of Los Llanos de Aridane, I was in awe. The stars didn’t twinkle, they blazed.…

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The face looks familiar, but who’s the other Time Lord in ‘Doctor Who: The Story & the Engine’?

NeRD

Reverse the polarity of the spoiler flow! Proceed with caution if you’re yet to watch the new “Doctor Who” episode “The Story & the Engine”. In “The Story & the Engine”, the Doctor stops off for a haircut in Lagos, Nigeria, and ends up with a little more than a short back and sides. A mysterious barber (Ariyon Bakare) is on the hunt for stories to power his scheme to topple the gods, and nobody has more memorable tales to share than Gallifrey’s most famous export. The episode references most…

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Need for speed? Watch this thrilling video from historic Stratolaunch Talon-A2 hypersonic flight (video)

NeRD

TA-2 First Recoverable Hypersonic Flight – YouTube Watch On Stratolaunch released a new video documenting the completion of its second hypersonic flight and full recovery of its Talon-A2 autonomous vehicle, showing off the capabilities of this sleek reusable hypersonic aircraft. This successful follow-up mission, recently undertaken on March 24 of this year, follows in the wake of the Talon-A2 vehicle’s initial first hypersonic flight and runway recovery back on Dec. 20, 2024. The Talon-A2 is an advanced air-launch plane lifted aloft by a gigantic dual-fuselage aircraft designed by Scaled Composites…

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It’s been one year since the most intense solar storm in decades created worldwide auroras. What have we learned?

NeRD

I’ll never forget the night of May 10, 2024. I remember having dinner with a friend and talking about the potential of seeing the northern lights in Northeast Ohio, a conversation that I had never had before or even thought was possible. It sounded unlikely, but earlier that week, the possibility was brought to my attention when I wrote one of my first-ever stories highlighting space weather triggered by the sun. As a meteorologist, space weather wasn’t something I talked about often, but the more I was learning that week,…

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