Tag: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

CADRE Rovers’ Test Drive in the Mars Yard

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NASA/JPL-Caltech Two full-scale development model rovers, part of NASA’s Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration, drive in the Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in this image from August 2023. The project is designed to show that a group of robotic spacecraft can work together as a team to accomplish tasks and record data autonomously – without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth. A series of Mars Yard tests with the development models confirmed CADRE hardware and software can work together to…

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NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter’s Moon Europa

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This side of a commemorative plate mounted on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft features U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” It will be affixed with a silicon microchip stenciled with names submitted by the public. NASA/JPL-Caltech When it launches in October, the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. Following in NASA’s storied tradition of sending inspirational messages into space, the agency has special plans for Europa Clipper, which…

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SWOT Satellite Catches Coastal Flooding During California Storms

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4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This image shows SWOT satellite data for water surface height in part of Mendocino County, Northern California, on Jan. 15, before several atmospheric rivers arrived, and on Feb. 4, after the first storms. Light blue and green indicate the highest water levels relative to mean sea level. (Inland water heights include the underlying ground elevation.) NASA/JPL-Caltech Operated by NASA and the French space agency, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission provides a new view of water on land,…

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NASA Telescopes Find New Clues About Mysterious Deep Space Signals

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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) In an ejection that would have caused its rotation to slow, a magnetar is depicted losing material into space in this artist’s concept. The magnetar’s strong, twisted magnetic field lines (shown in green) can influence the flow of electrically charged material from the object, which is a type of neutron star. NASA/JPL-Caltech Using two of the agency’s X-ray telescopes, researchers were able to zoom in on a dead star’s erratic behavior as it released a bright, brief burst of…

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Team Assessing SHERLOC Instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Rover

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Perseverance puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in a set of images captured in June and July 2022 by the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera system. SHERLOC is mounted on the end of the arm. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Engineers are working to stabilize a dust cover on one of the science instrument’s cameras. Data and imagery from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover indicate one of two covers that keep dust from accumulating on the optics of…

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NASA Puts Next-Gen Exoplanet-Imaging Technology to the Test

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6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) JPL scientist Vanessa Bailey stands behind the Nancy Grace Roman Coronagraph , which has been undergoing testing at JPL. About the size of a baby grand piano, the Coronagraph is designed to block starlight and allow scientists to see the faint light from planets outside our solar system. A cutting-edge tool to view planets outside our solar system has passed two key tests ahead of its launch as part of the agency’s Roman Space Telescope by 2027. The Coronagraph…

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NASA Collaborating on European-led Gravitational Wave Observatory in Space

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4 min read NASA Collaborating on European-led Gravitational Wave Observatory in Space The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, led by ESA (European Space Agency) with NASA contributions, will detect gravitational waves in space using three spacecraft, separated by more than a million miles, flying in a triangular formation. Lasers fired between the satellites, shown in this artist’s concept, will measure how gravitational waves alter their relative distances. AEI/MM/Exozet The first space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves has passed a major review and will proceed to the construction of…

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