NASA

United States & Russia Joint Mission To Mars Possible

May 15, 2012

Russia would be willing to be a partner with the United States on a manned mission to Mars, a Russian space official said at the United Nations. At U.N. headquarters to mark the International Day of Human Space Flight, Sergey Saveliev, deputy head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, said only international cooperation could make such a mission possible. “I have to say that currently there is no country that could organize a manned spaceflight to Mars and a safe return,” Saveliev said. “We strongly believe that this project can be accomplished only through international cooperation,” he said. “In this...

President Obama Threatens To Veto Cuts To NASA Budget

May 8, 2012

By Michael Muracco

A 2013 spending bill that would fund NASA’s commercial crew program below the level the president requested drew a veto threat May 7 as the U.S. House of Representatives was preparing to begin debate on the proposal. The $51 billion Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act for 2013 (H.R. 5326) that the Republican-led House began debating May 8 would fund NASA at $17.56 billion next year — the lowest level since 2008 and some $150 million less than President Barack Obama requested for the agency. NASA’s commercial crew program — a two-year-old effort that aims to foster development by 2017...

NASA’s Mars Rover ‘Opportunity’ Continues Science Experiments As Martian Winter Approaches

February 1, 2012

By Michael Muracco

NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity is positioned on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater with an approximate 15-degree northerly tilt for favorable solar energy production during the winter. Opportunity is conducting regular radio Doppler tracking measurements to support geo-dynamic investigations of the planet, in-situ (contact) science investigations of the target, “Amboy” including an extended Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic, and continued collection of the 13-filter, 360-degree “Greeley” panorama. Decreasing energy levels with the approach to the winter solstice has constrained Opportunity for conducting both a radio Doppler tracking pass and an afternoon Ultra High Frequency...

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Begins Ninth Year On Mars

January 24, 2012

By Michael Muracco

This mosaic of images taken in mid-January 2012 shows the windswept vista northward (left) to northeastward (right) from the location where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is spending its fifth Martian winter, an outcrop informally named "Greeley Haven." Opportunity's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) took the component images as part of full-circle view being assembled from Greeley Haven. The view includes sand ripples and other wind-sculpted features in the foreground and mid-field. The northern edge of the the "Cape York" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater forms an arc across the upper half of the scene. Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time and EST (Jan. 24, PST). It has driven 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers) as of its eighth anniversary on the planet. In late 2011, the rover team drove Opportunity up onto Greeley Haven to take advantage of the outcrop's sun-facing slope to boost output from the rover's dusty solar panels during the Martian winter. Research activities while at Greeley Haven include a radio-science investigation of the interior of Mars, inspections of mineral compositions and textures on the outcrop, and monitoring of wind-caused changes on scales from dunes to individual soil particles. The image combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). The view is presented in approximate true color. This "natural color" is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Eight years after landing on Mars for what was planned as a three-month mission, NASA’s enduring Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working on what essentially became a new mission five months ago. Opportunity reached a multi-year driving destination, Endeavour Crater, in August 2011. At Endeavour’s rim, it has gained access to geological deposits from an earlier period of Martian history than anything it examined during its first seven years. It also has begun an investigation of the planet’s deep interior that takes advantage of staying in one place for the Martian winter. Opportunity landed in Eagle Crater on Mars...

Scientist Find Three Exo-Planets Smaller Than Earth

January 11, 2012

By Michael Muracco

A team of astronomers led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has discovered the three smallest confirmed planets ever detected outside our solar system. The alien worlds, detected using publicly available data from NASA’s Kepler mission, are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the diameter of Earth, respectively; the smallest one is roughly Mars-size. The three exoplanets orbit a red dwarf star known as KOI-961, which is just one-sixth the size of our sun and is located 120 light-years away, in the Constellation Cygnus. The red dwarf, called KOI-961, was first flagged as a potential planetary system...

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Discovers First Earth Sized Exo-Planets

December 20, 2011

By Michael Muracco

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.

NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun. The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is slightly larger...

NASA Luanches New Rock Online Radio Station

December 12, 2011

By Michael Muracco

Some album covers with space themes. CREDIT: Columbia, Factory, MCA, RCA, Virgin, Warner Bros.

NASA unveiled a new online radio station dubbed “Third Rock: America’s Space Station” in the U.S. space agency’s latest bid to spread its space exploration to the American public. The radio station, which launched today, will broadcast new rock, indie and alternative music in a format that is “crafted specifically to speak the language of tech-savvy young adults,” NASA officials said in a statement. The goal, they added, is to showcase NASA’s space exploration missions in a novel format for today’s youth. The space agency is working with the Houston-based company RFC Media to run the Third Rock radio...

Could NASA’s MSL Rover “Curiosity” Contaminate Mars?

December 2, 2011

By Michael Muracco

During the preparation for the launch of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity on Nov. 26, a step in the “planetary protection” procedure wasn’t adhered to. The procedure’s key purpose is to make sure organic material from Earth doesn’t get transferred accidentally to the Red Planet. As reported by Space.com’s Leonard David, MSL project developers decided not to send a set of drill bits — attached to the rover’s exterior, ready to be used by the robotic arm’s drill — through a final ultra-cleanliness step before launch. This deviation in protocol wasn’t communicated to NASA’s planetary protection officer Cassie...

NASA’s Mars Science Rover “Curiosity” Launches Toward The Red Planet

November 26, 2011

By Michael Muracco

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST. “We are very excited about sending the world’s most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we’ll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we’ve never...

Smithsonian Channel Will Air A Special NASA Spinoff Technology Segment Of “Arthur Christmas”

November 21, 2011

By Michael Muracco

Requiring no calibration and no swipes or contact to make measurements, Ion Applications Inc.’s ion mobility spectrometer technology can inspect packages and vehicles for trace explosives and other dangerous chemicals. The device is in use by the U.S. military and international law enforcement.

Have you ever been curious about where all the technology in your school, home, car, computer, or office comes from? You might be surprised that a great percentage of the technology we rely on each day was developed or enhanced by NASA. We all know about NASA’s outstanding accomplishments in space, but few of us know just how much the space agency has accomplished right here at home. Except for Arthur. Arthur Christmas, that is. This year in the holiday release of “Arthur Christmas,” Santa’s North Pole has turned to high technology to run a precise operation in getting...