As NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaches its 13th perihelion, or close encounter, with the Sun on Sept. 6, it is heading into a much different solar environment than ever before.
Parker Solar Probe’s Upcoming Close Encounter with a Highly Active Sun

As NASA's Parker Solar Probe approaches its 13th perihelion, or close encounter, with the Sun on Sept. 6, it is heading into a much different solar environment than ever before.
On August 27, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .88 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).
NASA, the French space agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), and SpaceX are now targeting Monday, Dec. 5, for the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography, or SWOT, satellite. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch SWOT from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The SWOT project team determined a …
On August 21, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .88 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission is now scheduled to launch in mid-2023, around two years ahead of its original timeline. The decision means the spacecraft, targeted for completion by spring 2023, will skip a previously planned two-year storage period and move straight to launch. Lunar Trailblazer, a mission selected under NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary …
On August 14, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .83 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).
Four years after launch, NASA's Parker Solar Probe is operating exceptionally well and sending back more than twice the planned amount of science data.
On August 8, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at .90 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).
By Jude Coleman A low, surging wind picks up as the first few raindrops splatter onto dusty ground. Dense cumulonimbus clouds, like soot-stained cotton balls, knot tighter and tighter in the sky. While the thick scent of petrichor and ozone invades the air, an electric burst of lightning slashes through the sky; deafening cracks of …
by Deb Hernandez A handful of college students recently got to fly through the skies over the Mid-Atlantic as part of a NASA airborne science program. Freshman and sophomore students from minority-serving institutions joined NASA researchers on a P-3 aircraft based at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, as part of the Students Airborne Science …