NASA (General)
At least one in six stars has an Earth-sized planet
January 7, 2013 3:41 pm | News | CommentsThe quest for a twin Earth is heating up. Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17% of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury.
Curiosity Rover explores “Yellowknife Bay”
January 7, 2013 9:06 am | News | CommentsAfter imaging during the holidays, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity resumed driving Jan. 3 and pulled within arm's reach of a sinuous rock feature called "Snake River." Snake River is a thin curving line of darker rock cutting through flatter rocks and jutting above sand. Curiosity's science team plans to get a closer look at it before proceeding to other nearby rocks.
From Cassini for the holidays: A splendor seldom seen
December 21, 2012 12:21 pm | News | CommentsJust in time for the holidays, NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn for more than eight years now, has delivered another glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings.On Oct. 17, 2012, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant, Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn's shadow, a perfect location from which to look in the direction of the sun and take a backlit view of the rings and the dark side of the planet.
Clays on Mars: More plentiful than expected
December 21, 2012 9:30 am | News | CommentsA new study indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought. In fact, the research team say clays were in some of the rocks studied by Opportunity when it landed at Eagle crater in 2004. But Opportunity doesn’t have the capability any longer to detect these clays, which were found using spectroscopic analysis from the Mars Reconnaissance Observer.
Innovation on Wheels
December 14, 2012 11:35 am | by Paul Livingstone | Articles | CommentsThe Mars Science Laboratory is more than the biggest rolling science laboratory ever put on another planet. It's a systems engineering—and product development—triumph.
Dark Clouds, But Bright Outlook for R&D
December 14, 2012 11:27 am | by Tim Studt | Articles | CommentsChanges in the R&D environment are driving research managers to look at different ways to support and grow their organizations.
Twin NASA spacecraft prepare to crash into moon
December 13, 2012 4:38 pm | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsOn Friday, engineers are turning off the science instruments in preparation for Monday's big finale. After nearly a year circling the moon, NASA's Ebb and Flow will meet their demise when they crash—on purpose—into the lunar surface. Just don't expect to see celestial fireworks as it will happen on the dark side of the moon.
Below surface, moon reveals a "shattered" history
December 6, 2012 12:07 pm | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsResults presented Wednesday at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco show that the moon took a beating in its early days, far more than previously believed. Detailed gravity mapping by NASA’s Ebb and Flow spacecraft show the extent to which the moon was broken up and shattered from bombardment by asteroids and comets.
Cosmic radio waves mimic chirping of “alien birds”
December 5, 2012 10:20 am | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | CommentsNASA's Van Allen Probes have been exploring the hostile radiation belts surrounding Earth for just three months. But already measurements in unprecedented detail have been taken. Scientists said Tuesday these waves can provide an energy boost to radiation belt particles, somewhat like ocean waves can propel a surfer on Earth. What's more, these so-called chorus waves operate in the same frequency as human hearing so they can be heard.
Mars redux: NASA to launch Curiosity-like rover
December 5, 2012 9:53 am | by Alicia Chang, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsThe space agency on Tuesday announced plans to launch another mega-rover to the red planet in 2020 that will be modeled after the wildly popular Curiosity. To keep costs down, engineers will borrow Curiosity's blueprints, recycle spare parts where possible and use proven technology including the novel landing gear that delivered the car-size rover inside an ancient crater in August.
Curiosity’s laboratory instrument suite gets first “taste” of soil
November 14, 2012 2:49 pm | News | CommentsA pinch of fine dust and sand from a patch of windblown material called “Rocknest” became the first sample of soil examined by the Mars Science Laboratory’s suite of laboratory instruments, called Sample Analysis at Mars. The sample was delivered on Nov. 9, allowing the mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and laser spectrometry instruments to study the sample. Researchers are poring through the data now.
Judge backs NASA lab in work discrimination case
November 5, 2012 10:32 am | News | CommentsA California judge has tentatively ruled in favor of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by a former computer specialist who alleged he was singled out in part because of his belief in intelligent design.
Rover finds Mars atmosphere free of methane
November 5, 2012 10:12 am | News | CommentsA set of instruments aboard the rover has ingested and analyzed samples of the atmosphere collected near the "Rocknest" site in Gale Crater where the Curiosity rover is stopped for research. With these initial sniffs of Martian atmosphere, preliminary results reveal little to no methane. Methane is of interest as a simple precursor chemical for life.
Satellite data reveals power of solar wind
October 25, 2012 12:28 pm | by Karen C. Fox, NASA | News | CommentsA new study based on data from European Space Agency’s Cluster mission shows that it is easier for the solar wind to penetrate Earth’s magnetic environment, the magnetosphere, than had previously been thought. Scientists have, for the first time, directly observed the presence of certain waves that show Earth’s atmosphere behaving more like a sieve than a barrier.
Opposite behaviors? Arctic sea ice shrinks while Antarctic ice grows
October 24, 2012 8:15 am | by Maria-José Viñas, NASA | News | CommentsA new NASA study shows that from 1978 to 2010 the total extent of sea ice surrounding Antarctica in the Southern Ocean grew by roughly 6,600 square miles every year, an area larger than the state of Connecticut. However, this growth rate is not nearly as large as the decrease in the Arctic, which has scientists questioning the reasons for the growth. Atmospheric circulation may be one cause.
SwRI to build miniature solar observatory for manned suborbital flight
October 23, 2012 11:22 am | News | CommentsSouthwest Research Institute (SwRI) has received funding from NASA to build a miniature, portable solar observatory for developing and testing innovative instrumentation in suborbital flight. The SwRI Solar Instrument Pointing Platform will fly on new, commercial manned suborbital craft to enable spaceborne science and instrument development at a fraction of the cost of unmanned sounding rockets.
U.S. astronaut sees science breakthrough in space
October 22, 2012 11:31 am | News | CommentsAn astronaut departing this week for the International Space Station said Monday that the bulk of the scientific benefits from the orbiting laboratory will be seen over the coming decade, amid questions on whether the estimated $100 billion spent in last 12 years is worth the effort. Portland, Indiana-born Kevin Ford said the station is just now entering the phase where the bulk of science being conducted there will come to fruition.
Atom optics to help detect the imperceptible
October 22, 2012 8:43 am | by Lori Keesey | News | CommentsPredicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, the waves occur when massive celestial objects move and disrupt the fabric of space-time. But by the time these waves reach Earth, they are so weak that the planet expands and contracts less than an atom in response. No instrument or observatory has ever directly detected them. A pioneering technology capable of atomic-level precision is now being developed to detect what so far has remained imperceptible.
Mars rover ready for its first soil sample
October 19, 2012 10:12 am | News | CommentsThe ability to ingest solid samples and examine them using X-ray diffraction is a core capability for the Curiosity rover. This week that ability was tested using a small scoop of minerals that has been shaken to remove any residues carried from Earth. These particles have been placed inside CheMin, an analytical instrument about the size of a laptop computer inside a carrying case.
Dark matter filament studied in 3D for the first time
October 17, 2012 8:29 am | News | CommentsExtending 60 million light-years from one of the most massive galaxy clusters known, the filament of dark matter examined recently by the Hubble Space Telescope is part of the cosmic web that constitutes the large-scale structure of the Universe, and is a leftover of the very first moments after the Big Bang. If the high mass measured for the filament is representative of the rest of the Universe, then these structures may contain more than half of all the mass in the Universe.
Blue Origin completes rocket engine thrust chamber test
October 16, 2012 12:11 pm | News | CommentsNASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Blue Origin has successfully fired the thrust chamber assembly for its new 100,000 pound thrust BE-3 liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen rocket engine. As part of Blue's Reusable Booster System (RBS), the engines are designed eventually to launch the biconic-shaped space vehicle the company is developing.
How Huygens landed on Titan
October 16, 2012 12:10 pm | by Jia-Rui Cook/JPL and Daniel Stolte/UANews | News | CommentsScientists have pieced together the sequence of events of the farthest touchdown a man-made spacecraft has ever made on an alien world. Their work in tracking the bounces, wobbles, and skids the probe made before coming to rest on Titan reveals new clues about the Saturn moon’s surface and helps plan future missions to moons and planets.
Surprises found in Mars rock touched by Curiosity
October 12, 2012 10:18 am | News | CommentsTwo instruments on the Mars rover Curiosity were used to study the chemical makeup of a football-size rock called "Jake Matijevic". In addition to the ChemCam, which had examined a number of rocks, NASA for the first time used an X-ray spectrometer on the new rock, finding that its composition resembles some unusual rocks found in Earth’s interior.
SpaceX Dragon capsule launched to space station
October 7, 2012 9:30 pm | by MARCIA DUNN - AP Aerospace Writer - Associated Press | News | CommentsA commercial cargo ship rocketed into orbit Sunday in pursuit of the International Space Station, the first of a dozen supply runs under a mega-contract with NASA. It was the second launch of a Dragon capsule to the orbiting lab by the California-based SpaceX company. This time was no test flight, however, and the spacecraft carried 1,000 pounds of key science experiments and other precious gear.
NASA precisely measures expansion of universe
October 4, 2012 10:01 am | News | CommentsThe Hubble constant is named after the astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, who astonished the world in the 1920s by confirming our universe has been expanding since it exploded into being 13.7 billion years ago. This constant, or rate of expansion, is accelerating, and determining the expansion rate is critical for understanding the age and size of the universe. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have announced the most precise measurement yet of the Hubble constant.
