Tag: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Journey to a Water World: NASA’s Europa Clipper Is Ready to Launch

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Europa Clipper spacecraft aboard is seen at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the mission, Sunday, Oct. 13, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Find details about the launch sequences for the orbiter, which is targeting an Oct. 14 liftoff on its mission to search for ingredients of life at Jupiter’s moon Europa. In less than 24 hours, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft is slated to launch from the agency’s…

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Can Life Exist on an Icy Moon? NASA’s Europa Clipper Aims to Find Out

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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The puzzling surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa looms large in this reprocessed color view made from images taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. The images were assembled into a realistic color view of the surface that approximates how Europa would appear to the human eye. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute With a spacecraft launching soon, the mission will try to answer the question of whether there are ingredients suitable for life in the ocean below Europa’s icy crust.…

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New Video Series Spotlights Engineers on NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission

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Learn about some of the engineering work being done by five members of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which aims to launch Thursday, Oct. 10. NASA With NASA’s Europa Clipper just weeks away from launch, five short videos give a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the engineers dedicated to making the mission a success. What does it take to build a massive spacecraft that will seek to determine if a mysterious moon has the right ingredients for life? Find out in a new video series called “Behind the Spacecraft,” which offers…

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NASA JPL Scientists, Engineers Collaborate With Artists for Exhibition

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist David Bowen works on “tele-present wind,” featuring grass stalks that move in response to Martian wind data previously collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover mission. Behind him sits JPL data systems architect Rishi Verma. NASA/JPL-Caltech Works in ‘Blended Worlds: Experiments in Interplanetary Imagination,’ an exhibit in Glendale, California, help shrink the universe into something tangible. The universe is vast and filled with countless worlds, but a new exhibit at the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale, California, aims…

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NASA Citizen Scientists Spot Object Moving 1 Million Miles Per Hour

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4 min read NASA Citizen Scientists Spot Object Moving 1 Million Miles Per Hour This artist’s concept shows a hypothetical white dwarf, left, that has exploded as a supernova. The object at right is CWISE J1249, a star or brown dwarf ejected from this system as a result of the explosion. This scenario is one explanation for where CWISE J1249 came from. W.M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko Most familiar stars peacefully orbit the center of the Milky Way. But citizen scientists working on NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project have helped discover…

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NASA Demonstrates ‘Ultra-Cool’ Quantum Sensor for First Time in Space

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NASA’s Cold Atom Lab, shown where it’s installed aboard the International Space Station, recently demonstrated the use of a tool called an atom interferometer that can precisely measure gravity and other forces — and has many potential applications in space. NASA/JPL-Caltech Future space missions could use quantum technology to track water on Earth, explore the composition of moons and other planets, or probe mysterious cosmic phenomena. NASA’s Cold Atom Lab, a first-of-its-kind facility aboard the International Space Station, has taken another step toward revolutionizing how quantum science can be used…

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Here’s How Curiosity’s Sky Crane Changed the Way NASA Explores Mars

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5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This artist’s concept shows how NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was lowered to the planet’s surface using the sky crane maneuver. NASA / JPL-Caltech The rocket-powered descent stage that lowered NASA’s Curiosity onto the Martian surface is guided over the rover by technicians at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in September 2011, two months before the mission’s launch. NASA/Kim Shiflett Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a…

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AstroViz: Iconic Pillars of Creation Star in NASA’s New 3D Visualization

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Learn Home AstroViz: Iconic Pillars of… For Educators Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Stories Science Activation Highlights Citizen Science   4 min read AstroViz: Iconic Pillars of Creation Star in NASA’s New 3D Visualization NASA’s Universe of Learning – a partnership among the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Caltech/IPAC, the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and part of the NASA Science Activation program portfolio – recently released a new 3D visualization of the towering clouds of cosmic…

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Scientists Find Intriguing Mars Rock

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7 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered “leopard spots” on a reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Mars’ Jezero Crater in July 2024. Scientists think the spots may indicate that, billions of years ago, the chemical reactions in this rock could have supported microbial life; other explanations are being considered. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS An annotated version of the image of “Cheyava Falls” indicates the markings akin to leopard spots, which have particularly captivated scientists, and the olivine in the rock. The image was captured…

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NASA’s Juno Mission Captures the Colorful and Chaotic Clouds of Jupiter

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Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSSImage processing by Gary Eason © CC BY During its 61st close flyby of Jupiter on May 12, 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this color-enhanced view of the giant planet’s northern hemisphere. It provides a detailed view of chaotic clouds and cyclonic storms in an area known to scientists as a folded filamentary region. In these regions, the zonal jets that create the familiar banded patterns in Jupiter’s clouds break down, leading to turbulent patterns and cloud structures that rapidly evolve over the course of only a few…

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