Tag: Planetary Science

NASA Selects BAE Systems to Develop Air Quality Instrument for NOAA

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Smog over a deep mountain valley. Credit: NOAA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has selected BAE Systems (formerly known as Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation) of Boulder, Colorado, to develop an instrument to monitor air quality and provide information about the impact of air pollutants on Earth for NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite program. This cost-plus-award-fee contract is valued at approximately $365 million. It includes the development of one flight instrument as well as options for additional units. The anticipated period of performance…

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NASA SCoPE PI, Meenakshi Wadhwa, inducted to National Academy of Sciences

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2 min read NASA SCoPE PI, Meenakshi Wadhwa, inducted to National Academy of Sciences On April 26, 2024, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) welcomed a new cohort of outstanding members into its ranks, including Principal Investigator (PI) Meenakshi Wadhwa of NASA SCoPE – the NASA Science Mission Directorate Community of Practice for Education. At the induction ceremony, 120 new members and 23 international members were welcomed, expanding the NAS’s active membership to 2,565 and its international membership to 526. Wadhwa’s induction into the NAS recognized her groundbreaking contributions to…

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NASA’s LRO Finds Photo Op as It Zips Past SKorea’s Danuri Moon Orbiter

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NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), which has been circling and studying the Moon for 15 years, captured several images of Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri lunar orbiter last month. The two spacecraft, traveling in nearly parallel orbits, zipped past each other in opposite directions between March 5 and 6, 2024. The dark spot centered in the bottom third of this image is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri orbiter, smudged because it was traveling quickly in the opposite direction of NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) when LRO snapped the photo.…

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It Takes a Village: Meaningful Collaborations to Broaden Participation in STEM

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3 min read It Takes a Village: Meaningful Collaborations to Broaden Participation in STEM The NASA Science Activation Program’s Planetary Learning Advancing the Nexus of Engineering, Technology, and Science (PLANETS) project team, led by Northern Arizona University, Engineering is Elementary, United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology, and WestEd, develops planetary science and engineering curricula for Out-of-School Time (OST) programs such as afterschool and summer camps. PLANETS is employing a co-design approach to optimize the curricula to broaden participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) with a focus on multilingual…

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NASA Volunteers Find Fifteen Rare “Active Asteroids”

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2 Min Read NASA Volunteers Find Fifteen Rare “Active Asteroids” NASA’s Active Asteroids project Credits: Henry Hsieh Some extraordinary asteroids have “activity”—comet-like tails or envelopes of gas and dust.  NASA’s Active Asteroids project announced the discovery of activity on fifteen asteroids, challenging conventional wisdom about the solar system. To find these fifteen rare objects, more than 8000 volunteers combed through 430,000 images from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Victor M. Blanco telescope in Chile. A paper about the results, now published in the Astronomical Journal, includes nine volunteers…

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For Your Processing Pleasure: The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation

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1 min read For Your Processing Pleasure: The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation Jupiter’s moon Io, its night side illuminated by reflected sunlight from Jupiter, or “Jupitershine.” Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY NASA’s Juno spacecraft just made the closest flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has carried out in more than 20 years. An instrument on this spacecraft called “JunoCam” returned spectacular, high-resolution images—and raw data are now available for you to process, enhance, and investigate. On Dec. 30th, 2023, Juno…

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2023 NASA International Space Apps Challenge Announces 10 Global Winners

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5 min read 2023 NASA International Space Apps Challenge Announces 10 Global Winners This Earth observation was captured during a day pass by the Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station on September 2, 2014. European Space Agency Astronaut Alexander Gerst Ten teams from around the world have been named the Global Winners of the 2023 NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The Challenge is the largest annual global hackathon, and gives participants the opportunity to engage with real world problems we face on Earth and in space. The 2023…

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Approval to Exceed GSA Lodging for LPSC 2024

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2 min read Approval to Exceed GSA Lodging for LPSC 2024 This letter from SARA is to issue a waiver for NASA grantees attending LPSC 2024 allowing them to be reimbursed out of their grants for their actual lodging, although it’s expected to be above the approved GSA amount. This waiver does not supersede the travel policy of your institution if it is more restrictive. Note: I have specified grants (including cooperative agreements). This may also apply to those traveling on NASA contracts, but they should communicate with their contracting…

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Supporting Scientists and Educators in Engaging Families in Puerto Rico

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3 min read Supporting Scientists and Educators in Engaging Families in Puerto Rico In November 2023, the Planetary Resources and Content Heroes (ReaCH) team facilitated a Culturally Inclusive Planetary Engagement workshop for and with scientists and educators in Puerto Rico. During the two-day workshop, planetary scientists and informal educators explored the importance of building equitable partnerships, learned about evidence-based, culturally relevant, authentic approaches to engaging Latinx and Black audiences, and practiced planetary science engagement approaches through a culturally inclusive lens. The workshop was informed by an advisory board of scientists…

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New Patterns in Mars’s Clouds Revealed by Volunteers

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2 min read New Patterns in Mars’s Clouds Revealed by Volunteers Volunteers found that clouds in Mars’s atmosphere cluster at certain latitudes and altitudes. White patches in this pair of plots shows where Cloudspotting participants spotted the most clouds (or “arch peaks” in the project lingo). Red labels highlight a few interesting regions: 1) where high-altitude Carbon Dioxide-ice clouds form; 2) water-ice clouds that show a different pattern between day and night; and 3) clouds that form in a cold region over the poles. Credit: Adapted from Slipski et al.…

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