A team of NASA Astrobiology-funded researchers from the University of Rhode Island (URI) have revealed that the abundant microbes living thousands of meters from the ocean’s surface are sustained by an unexpected energy source – primarily by chemicals created by the natural irradiation of water... Read More
NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across the Martian landscape.
SOFIA found that Comet Catalina is carbon-rich, suggesting comets could have been an essential source of carbon on planets like Earth and Mars during the early formation of the solar system.
Look for Mars close to the Pleiades in the first couple of weeks of March. Then wake up early to observe the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, which return as morning planets this month.
During Parker Solar Probe’s seventh swing by the Sun, celestial geometry posed a special opportunity. The configuration of this particular orbit placed Parker Solar Probe on the same side of the Sun as Earth — meaning that Earth-bound observatories could observe the Sun and its outpouring of solar... Read More
NASA has awarded the Mars Ascent Propulsion System (MAPS) contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation of Elkton, Maryland, to provide propulsion support and products for spaceflight missions at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins’ enthusiasm for learning to grow plants in space has proven fruitful for the agency’s Vegetable Production System (Veggie).
Last year, astronomers were puzzled when Betelguese, the bright red supergiant star in the constellation Orion, dramatically faded, but then recovered. The dimming lasted for weeks. Now, astronomers have turned their sights toward a monster star in the adjoining constellation Canis Major, the Great... Read More
Since NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover touched down at Jezero Crater Feb. 18, mission controllers have made substantial progress as they prepare the rover for the unpaved road ahead.
To investigate humans’ impact on freshwater resources, scientists have now conducted the first global accounting of fluctuating water levels in Earth’s lakes and reservoirs – including ones previously too small to measure from space.
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be able to explore even more cosmic questions, thanks to a new near-infrared filter. The upgrade will allow the observatory to see longer wavelengths of light, opening up exciting new opportunities for discoveries from the edge of our solar system to... Read More
Testing teams successfully completed two important milestones that confirmed the observatory’s internal electronics are all functioning as intended, and that the spacecraft and its four scientific instruments can send and receive data properly through the same network they will use in space.
Marilé Colón Robles, a project scientist for NASA's GLOBE Clouds citizen science program, participated in a recent virtual panel discussion on Hispanic leaders in science and space as part of the 2021 Arizona SciTech Festival.
Space Experiments, Space Biology
Ask any scientist or researcher when they first became interested in their profession, and many will say it was while they were in high school. NASA is capitalizing on this by growing the nation’s next generation of scientists while they are rising juniors and seniors. GeneLab for High Schools, or... Read More
