https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from NASA On Sept. 9 and 10, scientists and engineers tested NASA's LEMS (Lunar Environment Monitoring Station) instrument suite in a "sandbox" of simulated moon regolith at the Florida Space Institute's Exolith Lab at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-artemis-science-instrument-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 26 Sep 2024 15:01:13 EDT news646581669 As NASA moves forward with efforts to establish a long-term presence on the moon as part of the Artemis campaign, safely moving cargo from landers to the lunar surface is a crucial capability. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-robotic-crew-preps-moon.html Space Exploration Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:20:02 EDT news646498065 NASA's TBIRD (TeraByte InfraRed Delivery) demonstration and its host spacecraft—the PTD-3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3)—have completed their technology demonstration. The TBIRD payload spent the past two years breaking world records for the fastest satellite downlink from space using laser communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-laser-mission.html Space Exploration Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:48:45 EDT news646498119 In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA's sea level change science team. This amount of rise will occur regardless of whether greenhouse gas emissions change in the coming years. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-analysis-irreversible-sea-pacific.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:43:42 EDT news646497789 Arctic sea ice retreated to near-historic lows in the Northern Hemisphere this summer, likely melting to its minimum extent for the year on Sept.11, 2024, according to researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The decline continues the decades-long trend of shrinking and thinning ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-arctic-sea-ice-historic-antarctic.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:28:17 EDT news646486093 Welcome to NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE-PAX). We've been talking about this validation campaign and now are finally here. "Here" being one of three main locations where PACE-PAX validation efforts are taking place: NASA's Armstrong Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-specialty-validate.html Space Exploration Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:27:05 EDT news646486019 At the International Space station, researchers are making strides in everything from Earth science to chemical properties. Here's what they're up to and why it matters. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-abounds-international-space-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 24 Sep 2024 04:48:34 EDT news646372110 Last week, team scientists and the internet alike were amazed when Perseverance spotted a black-and-white striped rock unlike any seen on Mars before. Is this a sign of exciting discoveries to come? https://phys.org/news/2024-09-perseverance-rover-unusual-striped-mars.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Sep 2024 15:14:03 EDT news646323242 A planet swings in front of its star, dimming the starlight we see. Events like these, called transits, provide us with bounties of information about exoplanets—planets around stars other than the sun. But predicting when these special events occur can be challenging…unless you have help from volunteers. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-citizen-science-collaboration-yields-precise.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 20 Sep 2024 14:00:01 EDT news646056269 The magnificent galaxy featured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is NGC 1559. It is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Reticulum, approximately 35 million light-years from Earth. The brilliant light captured in the current image offers a wealth of information. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hubble-multiwavelength-view-galaxy-ngc.html Astronomy Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:42:03 EDT news646054921 Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have found a galaxy cluster has two streams of superheated gas crossing one another. This result shows that crossing the streams may lead to the creation of new structure. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-chandra-galaxy-cluster-streams.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:36:56 EDT news645982614 New NASA research reveals a process to generate extremely accurate eclipse maps, which plot the predicted path of the moon's shadow as it crosses the face of Earth. Traditionally, eclipse calculations assume that all observers are at sea level on Earth and that the moon is a smooth sphere that is perfectly symmetrical around its center of mass. As such, these calculations do not take into account different elevations on Earth or the moon's cratered, uneven surface. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-accurate-eclipse.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:47:02 EDT news645968821 An interaction between an elliptical galaxy and a spiral galaxy, collectively known as Arp 107, seems to have given the spiral a happier outlook thanks to the two bright "eyes" and the wide semicircular "smile." The region has been observed before in infrared by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005. However, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope displays it at much higher resolution. This image is a composite, combining observations from Webb's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). https://phys.org/news/2024-09-webb-telescope-galactic-collisions.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:38:39 EDT news645896311 The mirrors for NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope are being installed and aligned, and work on other spacecraft components is accelerating. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-underway-nasa-generation-asteroid-hunter.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:42:51 EDT news645882167 Moon dust, or regolith, isn't like the particles on Earth that collect on bookshelves or tabletops—it's abrasive and it clings to everything. Throughout NASA's Apollo missions to the moon, regolith posed a challenge to astronauts and valuable space hardware. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-moon-air-pollution.html Space Exploration Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:41:16 EDT news645882072 The first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth, Europa Clipper aims to find out whether the ice-encased moon Europa could be habitable. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-europa-clipper-nasa-mission-ocean.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:26:04 EDT news645805562 Hybrid-electric cars have been a staple of the road for many years now. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-09-nasa-ge-aerospace-advancing-hybrid.html Engineering Automotive Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:24:33 EDT news645794668 Black and gray sediment stretches as far as the eye can see. Boulders sit on top of ground devoid of vegetation. Humans appear almost miniature in scale against a swath of shadowy mountains. At first glance, it seems a perfect scene from an excursion on the moon's surface … except the people are in hiking gear, not spacesuits. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-artemis-ii-crew-iceland.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Mon, 16 Sep 2024 13:40:04 EDT news645712802 NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are headed to the International Space Station for the agency's SpaceX Crew-9 mission in September. Once on station, these crew members will support scientific investigations that include studies of blood clotting, effects of moisture on plants grown in space, and vision changes in astronauts. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-spacex-crew-space-station.html Space Exploration Fri, 13 Sep 2024 13:25:30 EDT news645452722 In the fall of 2023, NASA hot fire tested an aluminum 3D printed rocket engine nozzle. Aluminum is not typically used for 3D printing because the process causes it to crack, and its low melting point makes it a challenging material for rocket engines. Yet the test was a success. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-propel-industrial-revolution.html Space Exploration Fri, 13 Sep 2024 13:09:24 EDT news645451760 In July 2021, NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station started growing chili peppers in the Advanced Plant Habitat, as part of the Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-image-chili-bloom-international-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 12 Sep 2024 16:01:01 EDT news645375661 Astronomers have directed NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to examine the outskirts of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists call this region the Extreme Outer Galaxy due to its location more than 58,000 light-years away from the Galactic Center. (For comparison, Earth is approximately 26,000 light-years from the center.) https://phys.org/news/2024-09-webb-peers-extreme-outer-galaxy.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Sep 2024 13:44:20 EDT news645367456 NASA will coordinate with U.S. government stakeholders, partners, and international standards organizations to establish a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) following a policy directive from the White House in April. The agency's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program is leading efforts on creating a coordinated time, which will enable a future lunar ecosystem that could be scalable to other locations in our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-lunar-standard-exploration.html Space Exploration Thu, 12 Sep 2024 12:01:03 EDT news645361261 August 2024 set a new monthly temperature record, capping Earth's hottest summer since global records began in 1880, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The announcement comes as a new analysis upholds confidence in the agency's nearly 145-year-old temperature record. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-summer-hottest-date.html Environment Wed, 11 Sep 2024 17:30:04 EDT news645294601 NASA's Artemis campaign will send the first woman and the first person of color to the moon's south polar region, marking humanity's first return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-phenomena-nasa-astronauts-encounter-moon.html Space Exploration Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:30:02 EDT news645290369 NASA and its industry partners continue to make progress toward Artemis III and beyond, the first crewed lunar landing missions under the agency's Artemis campaign. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-starship-super-heavy-breezes-tunnel.html Space Exploration Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:17:06 EDT news645290224 In 2025, NASA will launch its first mission to image the magnetic fingerprint of intense electrical currents that flow high in our atmosphere when auroras shimmer above Earth's poles. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-ezie-mission.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:15:20 EDT news645290108 Tests on Earth appear to confirm how the red planet's spider-shaped geologic formations are carved by carbon dioxide. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-scientists-recreate-mars-spider.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:27:04 EDT news645287221 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has infrared vision that lets us peer through the dusty veil of nearby star-forming region NGC 1333. We can see planetary mass objects, newborn stars, and brown dwarfs; some of the faintest "stars" in this mosaic image are in fact newly born free-floating brown dwarfs with masses comparable to those of giant planets. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-image-james-webb-space-telescope.html Astronomy Wed, 11 Sep 2024 13:10:02 EDT news645278821 Engineers working on NASA's Voyager 1 probe have successfully mitigated an issue with the spacecraft's thrusters, which keep the distant explorer pointed at Earth so that it can receive commands, send engineering data, and provide the unique science data it is gathering. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-voyager-team-tricky-thruster-swap.html Space Exploration Wed, 11 Sep 2024 03:39:15 EDT news645244744