NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will soon reach the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson. In this image, created by stacking images that the Lucy spacecraft took during its approach, the asteroid appears as a series of points in front of the static background of stars and galaxies. In addition to the asteroid brightening as the spacecraft approaches...
NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission successfully completed spacecraft commissioning this week, opening its instrument doors to capture “first light,” the mission’s first images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere and the surrounding space. This is the first step in revealing new details of how the solar atmosphere unfolds and streams through …
New data from NASA’s SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) is available at its regular frequency following a data outage in November 2024. A small amount of historical data collected prior to 2014 is still being restored from backups. The SDO mission provides critical, near-real-time and high-resolution solar observations for the study of the near-Earth space environment …
Work on the NISAR satellite has been completed at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Satellite Integration and Testing Establishment in Bengaluru, and preparations are under way to transport it to the launch site at the agency’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on India’s southeastern coast. NASA and ISRO now are reviewing potential launch …
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is less than one month away from its next asteroid encounter. As it approaches, Lucy is keeping an eye on its target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, using its high-resolution imager, L’LORRI, for optical navigation. At its closest point, Lucy will fly 600 miles (960 km) from Donaldjohanson, a distance carefully...
Since near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 was first discovered in December 2024, NASA and the worldwide planetary defense community have continued to observe the asteroid, which was ruled out as a significant impact risk to Earth. New infrared observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have decreased the uncertainty of the asteroid’s size and 2024 YR4...
Editor’s Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process. These results were reported as part of NASA’s role in the International Asteroid Warning Network. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently turned its watchful eye toward asteroid 2024 YR4, which we now know poses no significant …
Work on NASA’s purpose-built asteroid hunter, Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor, is progressing toward a targeted late 2027 launch. A major component of the mission, the spacecraft’s instrument enclosure journeyed back to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in early March after completing environmental testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Built at …
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 11:21 a.m. ET on Friday, March 28. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to …
Work on NASA’s purpose-built asteroid hunter, Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor, is progressing toward a targeted late 2027 launch. A major component of the mission, the spacecraft’s instrument enclosure journeyed back to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in early March after completing environmental testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Built at JPL, the angular 12-foot-long...