The window for NASA’s next scientific balloon campaign in Wānaka, New Zealand, has opened. The launches include two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology. These stadium-sized, heavy-lift balloons will travel the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes for planned missions of 100 days or more. Teams from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility […]
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 […]
The International Space Station is orbiting higher today after the Progress 91 cargo craft fired its thrusters for over 17 minutes while docked to the Zvezda service module. The reboost places the orbital outpost at the correct altitude for the arrival of the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and its three crew members next week.
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 …
Exercise research was back on the science schedule for the Expedition 72 crew on Tuesday ensuring astronauts stay healthy and in shape while living and working in weightlessness. The International Space Station residents also continued a host of other microgravity research exploring robotics, combustion, and more.
Several Expedition 72 crew members began Monday attaching a variety of sensors to themselves and exercising so researchers can see how their bodies are adapting to living and working in microgravity. The International Space Station crewmates also kept up their science maintenance and life support duties at the beginning of the week.
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 […]
