This 360-degree mosaic from the “Airey Hill” location inside Jezero Crater was generated using 993 individual images taken by the Perseverance Mars rover’s Mastcam-Z from Nov. 3-6. The rover remained parked at Airey Hill for several weeks during solar conjunction. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way. Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake…
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NASA Sensor Produces First Global Maps of Surface Minerals in Arid Regions
NASA’s EMIT produced its first global maps of hematite, goethite, and kaolinite in Earth’s dry regions using data from the year ending November 2023. The mission collected billions of measurements of the three minerals and seven others that may affect climate when lofted into the air as dust storms. NASA/JPL-Caltech EMIT delivers first-of-a-kind maps of minerals in Earth’s dust-source areas, enabling scientists to model the fine particles’ role in climate change and more. NASA’s EMIT mission has created the first comprehensive maps of the world’s mineral dust-source regions, providing precise…
Read MoreStudents Create Elaborate Homemade Machines for JPL Competition
Oakwood School’s Team Pink won first place in the Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Paul MacNeal (left) has run the competition since 1998. NASA/JPL-Caltech The homemade devices built by competing teams relied on catapults, crossbows, small motors, and more to accomplish seven consecutive steps to sink a crumpled piece of paper into a wastebasket. NASA/JPL-Caltech To compete in a race against the clock and each other, 18 student teams built complicated contraptions for the annual Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Some 250 students hauled homemade machines…
Read MoreNASA Helps Study One of the World’s Most Diverse Ecosystems
Researchers with the BioSCape campaign collect vegetation data from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The field work, which took place in October and November, was part of an international collaboration that could help inform the capabilities of future satellite missions aimed at studying plants and animals. Adam Wilson NASA satellite and airborne tools aid an international team studying biodiversity on land and in the water around South Africa. An international team of researchers spent October and November 2023 in the field studying one of the world’s most…
Read MoreNASA’s Psyche Delivers First Images and Other Data
5 Min Read NASA’s Psyche Delivers First Images and Other Data This mosaic was made from “first light” images acquired Dec. 4 by both of the cameras on NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. The star field lies in the constellation Pisces. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU The mission team has celebrated several successes since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The latest is the operation of the spacecraft’s cameras. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one…
Read MoreNASA Mission Excels at Spotting Greenhouse Gas Emission Sources
5 min read NASA Mission Excels at Spotting Greenhouse Gas Emission Sources Flaring, in which excess natural gas is intentionally burned into the air, is one way methane is released from oil and gas facilities. NASA’s EMIT mission, in more than a year in operation, has shown a proficiency at spotting emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases from space. Adobe Stock/Ilya Glovatskiy Since launching 16 months ago, the EMIT imaging spectrometer aboard the International Space Station has shown an ability to detect more than just surface minerals. More than…
Read MoreNASA’s Cold Atom Lab Sets Stage for Quantum Chemistry in Space
7 min read NASA’s Cold Atom Lab Sets Stage for Quantum Chemistry in Space This animation depicts six finely tuned lasers used inside NASA’s Cold Atom Lab to slow down atoms, lowering their temperature. Scientists can now use the lab to see how different types of atoms interact with each other at these cold temperatures. NASA/JPL-Caltech The remotely operated facility aboard the International Space Station has created another tool that researchers can use to probe the fundamental nature of the world around us. For the first time in space, scientists…
Read MoreTrailblazing New Earth Satellite Put to Test in Preparation for Launch
The NISAR satellite enters the thermal vacuum chamber at an ISRO facility in Bengaluru on Oct. 19. It emerged three weeks later having met all requirements of its performance under extreme temperatures and space-like vacuum. ISRO During three weeks in a thermal vacuum chamber in Bengaluru, India, the joint NASA-ISRO satellite demonstrated its hardiness in a harsh, space-like environment. NISAR, the trailblazing Earth-observing radar satellite being developed by the United States and Indian space agencies, passed a major milestone on Nov. 13, emerging from a 21-day test aimed at evaluating…
Read MoreNASA’s Mars Fleet Will Still Conduct Science While Lying Low
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view of the location where it will be parked for several weeks during Mars solar conjunction, a period when engineers stop sending commands to spacecraft at the Red Planet because the Sun may interfere with radio signals. NASA/JPL-Caltech Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet. NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the…
Read MoreNASA Is Locating Ice on Mars With This New Map
The blue areas on this map of Mars are regions where NASA missions have detected subsurface water ice (from the equator to 60 degrees north latitude). Scientists can use the map – part of the Subsurface Water Ice Mapping project – to decide where the first astronauts to set foot on the Red Planet should land. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Planetary Science Institute These Mars global maps show the likely distribution of water ice buried within the upper 3 feet (1 meter) of the planet’s surface and represent the latest data from the SWIM…
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