NewsSpace

See SWOT Mission’s Unprecedented View of Global Sea Levels

November 2, 2023
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite is sending down tantalizing views of Earth’s water, including a global composite of sea surface heights. The satellite collected the data visualized above during SWOT’s first full 21-day science orbit, which it completed between July 26 and Aug. 16. SWOT is measuring the height of nearly all water on Earth’s surface, providing one of…
Read more
NewsSpace

The Crab Nebula Seen in New Light by NASA’s Webb

October 30, 2023
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. Since the recording of this energetic event in 1054 C.E. by 11th-century astronomers, the Crab Nebula has continued to draw…
NewsSpace

NASA Is Locating Ice on Mars With This New Map

October 30, 2023
Buried ice will be a vital resource for the first people to set foot on Mars, serving as drinking water and a key ingredient for rocket fuel. But it would also be a major scientific target: Astronauts or robots could one day drill ice cores much as scientists do on Earth…
NewsSpace

NASA Technologies Receive Multiple Nods in TIME Inventions of 2023

October 30, 2023
As NASA explores, innovates, and inspires through its work, agency inventions aimed at monitoring atmospheric pollution, studying samples from asteroids, extracting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, and revolutionizing flight have been named TIME’s Inventions of 2023. TIME announced the honorees on Oct. 24. “For more than 65 years, NASA has innovated for the benefit of humanity,” said NASA…
Read more
NewsSpace

How NASA Is Protecting Europa Clipper From Space Radiation

October 25, 2023
When NASA’s Europa Clipper begins orbiting Jupiter to investigate whether its ice-encased moon, Europa, has conditions suitable for life, the spacecraft will pass repeatedly through one of the most punishing radiation environments in our solar system. Hardening the…
NewsSpace

NASA’s Voyager Team Focuses on Software Patch, Thrusters

October 20, 2023
Engineers for NASA’s Voyager mission are taking steps to help make sure both spacecraft, launched in 1977, continue to explore interstellar space for years to come. One effort addresses fuel residue that seems to be accumulating inside narrow tubes in some of the thrusters on the spacecraft. The thrusters are used to keep each spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. This type of buildup has…
Read more
NewsSpace

Webb Detects Tiny Quartz Crystals in Clouds of Hot Gas Giant

October 16, 2023
Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected evidence for quartz nanocrystals in the high-altitude clouds of WASP-17 b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet 1,300 light-years from Earth. The detection, which was uniquely possible with Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared…
NewsSpace

Journey to a Metal-Rich World: NASA’s Psyche Is Ready to Launch

October 12, 2023
In less than 24 hours, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is slated to launch from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With its sights set on a mysterious asteroid of the same name, Psyche is NASA’s first scientific mission to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Launch is set for 10:16 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 12, with additional opportunities identified each day through Oct. 25.
Read more