Tag: NASA

International Space Station astronauts show off creative outfits for Halloween

NeRD

The International Space Station crew dressed up in Halloween costumes one day ahead of their next spacewalk. The four astronauts working in the U.S. segment posed, trick-or-treating style, with costumes in the Japanese Kibo module of the International Space Station on Wednesday (Oct. 31). Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency posted the costumes on X (formerly Twitter) and invited the audience to guess what the crew is wearing. Two of the astronauts, NASA’s Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, will then don very different outfits —  spacesuits  —  on Thursday…

Read More

Drinkware with a twist of space history: New ‘Milestones in Space’ glass tumblers

NeRD

Space enthusiasts, get out your favorite powdered orange drink, because a new set of glasses is bringing space history back to your kitchen cabinet (or basement bar). Chop Shop, a Pennsylvania-based design studio with a focus on space, science and pop culture, has launched its latest crowdfunding campaign for a trio of new tumblers celebrating “Milestones in Space.” The project, which is now live on Kickstarter, began on Monday (Oct. 23) and runs through Nov. 20. Drawing inspiration from the space-themed drinkware that was popular 60 years ago, Chop Shop’s…

Read More

Astronauts test moon camera design for future Artemis missions

NeRD

A new camera designed for upcoming crewed missions to the moon has been tested by astronauts in lunar-like environments on Earth. The Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC) was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s Artemis imagery team. Made from off-the-shelf cameras, according to a statement from ESA,  this prototype underwent testing in Lanzarote, Spain, as part of the PANGAEA training program, which prepares astronauts for future missions to the moon.  As part of field science training, an international crew tested the capabilities of the camera in simulated…

Read More

NASA Ames, UC Berkeley to build $2 billion space center in Silicon Valley

NeRD

The University of California, Berkeley, and NASA’s Ames Research Center just announced plans to build a colossal $2 billion space center in Silicon Valley. The collaboration between the University of California and NASA Ames, called the Berkeley Space Center, has been in the works for more than two decades. It will be a training ground for the next generation of space professionals, from engineers and explorers to business leaders in the burgeoning private space industry, team members said. “The NASA mission is twofold: inspiring the next generation of explorers, and…

Read More

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will launch in 2027. Here’s how scientists are getting ready

NeRD

NASA is mobilizing the scientific community to ensure the agency’s next big space telescope will be ready to deliver a “big picture” view of the universe almost immediately after launching. The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope — also known as the Roman Space Telescope, or just Roman — is set to launch in 2027 and will view the cosmos with a staggeringly wide field of view. Its big-picture observations of distant and early galaxies could help scientists solve the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. Collectively, this so-called dark universe…

Read More

Rocket booster parts arrive in LA to stand up space shuttle Endeavour exhibit

NeRD

They may not be as iconic as Endeavour or as large as the orbiter’s external tank, but the sight of twin rockets moving through the streets of Los Angeles was enough to once again draw a crowd to watch the space shuttle components being delivered to the site of their future display. The last major parts needed to exhibit Endeavour in its vertical, ready-for-launch configuration, the two solid rocket motors (SRMs) completed a two-day, 100-mile (160 kilometers) trip from the Mojave Air and Space Port to the California Science Center…

Read More

All aboard! Train tugs Artemis 2 moon rocket parts to the NASA launch center (photos, video)

NeRD

Rocket pieces for the first human moon mission in 50 years glided into their launch center via rail. NASA‘s massive rocket booster segments, too large to ship by other means, safely arrived at a Florida railyard for a “turning point” in launching Artemis 2 and four astronauts around the moon late next year, agency officials stated on Sept. 25. The boosters will support the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket during the moon mission’s launch in 2024. The SLS, the most powerful rocket ever built, will nevertheless require help from…

Read More

New wristwatch bridges Apollo to Artemis with touch of real moon dust

NeRD

There is an allure to moon dust. Just like its unique adhesive properties, causing it to stick to everything it touches, it tends to draw the attention of everyone who sees it, regardless their walk of life. It is appropriate then that Col&MacArthur named its moon dust-infused timepiece the LUNAR1,622. “It’s the gravity on the moon,” said Sebastien Colen, founder and CEO of the Belgium-based watch company, referring to the numerical designation of their new release and the gravitational pull of the moon as compared to Earth. “Every time we…

Read More

New York City is sinking — and it’s not just because of the flooding

NeRD

While the ground may feel stable under your feet, it’s always moving ever so slightly — not just horizontally with the movement of tectonic plates, but also vertically. And New York City, in particular, is sinking. (No, it’s not because of all the recent flooding that has seen commuters swimming on the streets of the West Village and cars stuck indefinitely on the Franklin D. Roosevelt highway). Between 2016 and 2023, researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) used a space-based method known as interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to 3D-map the…

Read More

NASA delays launch of Psyche asteroid mission by 1 week, to Oct. 12

NeRD

We’ll have to wait another week to see NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission take flight. Psyche had been scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Oct. 5. But that’s no longer the plan; the mission team has pushed the liftoff back to Oct. 12. “The change allows the NASA team to complete verifications of the parameters used to control the Psyche spacecraft’s nitrogen cold gas thrusters,” NASA officials wrote in an update on Thursday evening (Sept. 28). “The parameters were…

Read More