NASA News

Every piece of hardware flown in space is first tested rigorously on the ground to ensure that it can perform in extreme environments. Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, operate a sophisticated set of custom-built testing facilities to simulate these conditions, and recently concluded several test series for industry partners on …

The Sun is stirring from its latest slumber. As sunspots and flares, signs of a new solar cycle, bubble from the Sun’s surface, scientists wonder what this next cycle will look like. The short answer is, probably a lot like the last — that is, the past 11 years of the Sun’s life, since that’s …

An international effort that brought together more than 60 ice, ocean and atmosphere scientists from three dozen international institutions has generated new estimates of how much of an impact Earth’s melting ice sheets could have on global sea levels by 2100. If greenhouse gas emissions continue apace, Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets could together contribute …

The concentration of mercury in the fish in Alaska’s Yukon River may exceed the EPA’s human health criterion by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are not constrained, according to scientific research funded in part by NASA. This first of its kind research estimates potential releases of mercury from thawing permafrost under …

Building upon more than two decades of research, a new web-based platform called OpenET will soon be putting NASA data in the hands of farmers, water managers and conservation groups to accelerate improvements and innovations in water management. OpenET uses publicly available data and open source models to provide satellite-based information on evapotranspiration (the “ET” …

Every morning, astronomer Steve Padilla takes a short walk from his home to the base of a tower that soars 150 feet above the ground. Tucked in the San Gabriel Mountains, about an hour’s drive north from Los Angeles, the Mount Wilson Observatory has long been a home for space science — it’s Padilla’s home …

As part of the Artemis program, NASA is returning astronauts to the Moon where we will prepare for human exploration of Mars. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, experts from NASA, industry, and academia are pioneering methods to print the rocket parts that could power those journeys. NASA’s Rapid Analysis and Manufacturing Propulsion Technology project, or …

A small satellite mission that will study the formation and evolutionary implications for small “rubble pile” asteroids has received NASA approval to proceed to the next phase of its development. On Sept. 3, the dual-spacecraft Janus project successfully passed the important Key Decision Point-C milestone. It’s the first concept study from the current round of …

NASA has selected 27 organizations across the nation to begin negotiations leading to awards/extensions for cooperative agreements totaling $39 million a year to implement the next phase of Science Activation—a community-based approach to connect NASA science with learners of all ages. Selections were made by the agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in Washington, D.C. for …