NewsSpace

Shake and Bake: NASA’s Psyche Is Tested in Spacelike Conditions

November 16, 2022
The conditions that a NASA spacecraft endures are extreme: the violent shaking and cacophony of a rocket launch, the jolt of separating from the launch vehicle, the extreme temperature fluctuations in and out of the Sun’s rays, the unforgiving vacuum of space. Before launch, engineers do their best to replicate these harsh conditions in a rigorous series of tests to ensure the spacecraft can…
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How NASA’s Psyche Mission Will Explore an Unexplored World

November 16, 2022
The target of NASA’s Psyche mission – a metal-rich asteroid, also called Psyche, in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter – is an uncharted world in outer space. From Earth- and space-based telescopes, the asteroid appears as a fuzzy blur. What scientists do know…
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One Year From Launch: US-European Satellite to Track World’s Water

November 16, 2022
An international team of engineers and technicians has finished assembling a next-generation satellite that will make the first global survey of Earth’s surface water and study fine-scale ocean currents. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is just a year out from launch, and the final set of tests on the spacecraft have started. SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the…
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Solar Electric Propulsion Makes NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Go

November 16, 2022
When it comes time for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft to power itself through deep space, it’ll be more brain than brawn that does the work. Once the stuff of science fiction, the efficient and quiet power of electric propulsion will provide the force that propels the Psyche spacecraft all the way to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The orbiter’s target: a metal-rich asteroid also…
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Take a 3D Spin on Mars and Track NASA’s Perseverance Rover

November 16, 2022
It’s the next best thing to being on Mars: Two online interactive experiences let you check out Jezero Crater – the landing site and exploration locale for NASA’s Perseverance rover – without leaving our planet. One new experience, called “Explore with…
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NASA’s Perseverance Plans Next Sample Attempt

November 16, 2022
In its search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is once again preparing to collect the first of many rock core samples that could eventually be brought to Earth for further study. This week, a tool on the rover’s 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm will abrade the surface of a rock nicknamed “Rochette,” allowing scientists to look inside and…
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