On July 26, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft fired its engines for about 63 seconds to slightly thrust itself onto a course closer to Earth. Preliminary tracking data indicates OSIRIS-REx changed its velocity, which includes speed and direction, by 1.3 miles, or 2 kilometers, per hour. It's a tiny but critical shift; without course adjustments like this …
On July 18-20, the team behind NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission rehearsed recovering a mock sample return capsule from the location where the real one, with fragments of asteroid Bennu, will land on Sept. 24: the Utah desert. Though the team has rehearsed portions of the recovery operation many times this year, this was the most realistic …
After a launch postponement made its primary science targets inaccessible to the spacecraft, NASA has concluded the Janus mission and directed the project to prepare the spacecraft for long-term storage. Designed to send twin small satellite spacecraft to study two separate binary asteroid systems, Janus was originally a ride-along on the Psyche mission's scheduled 2022 …
The capsule looked like something from a 1960s sci-fi flick. Resting on the ground, slightly tilted, its white heat shield flaked off in places, it looked how one would expect after speeding in from outer space and streaking across the sky like a shooting star. Despite its appearance, the mini-fridge-sized object had, in fact, never …
NASA's Parker Solar Probe accomplished a milestone on June 27, 2023 – its 16th orbit of the Sun.
When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft releases a capsule with material from asteroid Bennu onto the Utah desert on Sept. 24, it will become the latest in a line of missions to gather samples from space and deliver them to Earth. Collecting material from space is a challenging feat that requires teams of dedicated scientists and engineers, …
NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission is providing new evidence that a violent, catastrophic event created the Geminids.
This week, NASA's OSIRIS-REx science team is meeting as a whole for the last time before the sample of asteroid Bennu arrives on Earth. This occasion marks the last chance for the group to convene to make sure team members, lab facilities, and sample-analysis techniques are working as expected and ready for the delivery of …
On May 9, NASA's Lucy spacecraft carried out a trajectory correction maneuver to set the spacecraft on course for its close encounter with the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh. The maneuver changed the velocity of the spacecraft by only about 7.7 mph (3.4 m/s). Even though the spacecraft is currently travelling at approximately 43,000 mph …
Five researchers supported by NASA's Living With a Star Program will join the 2023-2024 class of NASA's Jack Eddy Postdoctoral Fellowship. The early career PhDs, selected by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)'s Cooperative Program for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS), will research interdisciplinary projects contributing to the field of heliophysics at …