NASA awarded the contract to launch the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission to Blue Origin. The award is part of NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contracts. VADR arranges fixed-price launch services for scientific and technological payloads and includes thirteen companies. SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Virgin Orbit, and Spaceflight, Inc., … [Read more…]
Some of NASA’s Earth-observation satellites are helping with response to the earthquake along the Türkiye/Syria border by providing real-time data about conditions on the ground. Earlier this month, Türkiye (formerly Turkey) got hit by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that also sent out at least one 6.7-magnitude aftershock in its south-central region. The earthquake also produced more … [Read more…]
The James Webb Space Telescope was designed to provide more detailed data and images of distant objects and structures. However, it’s still possible for the occasional photobomb to happen. In this case, scientists found evidence that a small asteroid wandered into the field of view of one of James Webb’s instruments during calibration. Technicians were … [Read more…]
Astronomers are pretty used to the idea of collisions between large objects and structures. They’ve spotted colliding neutron stars. Four billion years from now, the Andromeda Galaxy will collide with the Milky Way Galaxy. Now they’ve found evidence of one of the largest possible collisions: three galaxy clusters that are currently fusing into one big … [Read more…]
Scientists are developing a proposed technique to use gravitational waves to study the beginning of time. Gravitational waves might provide clues about the state of the very early universe that existed just after the Big Bang. Massive object generate gravitational waves as “ripples” in the fabric of the universe as they move through spacetime. These … [Read more…]
Astronomers formed a new method for predicting solar flares using data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The research team from NorthWest Research Associates identified small flashes in the sun’s corona that could be a precursor for flares. The flashes could indicates when and where the flares occur. They typically occur in the lower layers … [Read more…]
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been busy with observations that included watching stars form in the Small Magellanic Cloud and finding a new exoplanet. NASA released findings from the James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of a region in the Small Magellanic Cloud called NGC 346. NGC 346 is a young cluster of stars … [Read more…]
During an event at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., representatives from NASA and Japan signed a deal for future cooperation in space. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy represented NASA, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in attendance to sign the document. Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa signed … [Read more…]
Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen stepped down as the Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the end of 2022. Sandra Connelly is currently filling in as Acting Associate Administrator. The Science Mission Directorate oversees scientific missions in planetary science and astrophysics. It also oversees NASA’s earth science projects. Dr. Zurbuchen took the job of Associate … [Read more…]
A research team represented by Cecilia Chirenti at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle demonstrated the value of preserving data from retired scientific instruments by finding evidence of the collision of two neutron stars. The neutron stars fused into a superheavy neutron star that existed briefly before collapsing into a black … [Read more…]