Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully passed its critical design review, signaling that all design and developmental engineering work is now complete. "After seeing our extensive hardware testing and sophisticated modeling, an independent review panel has confirmed that the observatory we have designed will work," said Julie McEnery, the Roman Space Telescope senior pro

Riverside CA (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
When the world's most powerful telescope launches into space this year, scientists will learn whether Earth-sized planets in our 'solar neighborhood' have a key prerequisite for life - an atmosphere. These planets orbit an M-dwarf, the smallest and most common type of star in the galaxy. Scientists do not currently know how common it is for Earth-like planets around this type of star to ha

Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 01, 2021
The white speck is NASA's Perseverance rover in the "South Seitah" area of Mars' Jezero Crater. The image was taken by the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion La

Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
Dunes develop when wind-blown sand organizes into patterns, most often in deserts and arid or semi-arid parts of the world. Every continent on Earth has dune fields, but dunes and dune-like sand patterns are also found across the solar system: on Mars, Venus, Titan, Comet 67P, and Pluto. On Earth, weather stations measure the wind speed and direction, allowing us to predict and understand airflo

Stennis Space Center MS (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
NASA marked a significant milestone Sept. 30 in its plans for future missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars with completion of an RS-25 single-engine Retrofit-2 test series at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A full-duration hot fire of RS-25 developmental engine No. 0528 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis culminated a seven-test series to support development and pro

Melbourne FL (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
A rogue planet is an interstellar object of planetary mass without a host planetary system. As they freely roam around space, could they be fertile nurseries for life? A Florida Tech scientist believes it's possible based on extensive research he has undertaken over the past several years. In research highlighted this summer in Discover Magazine, university astrobiologist Manasvi Lin

Cambridge UK (SPX) Oct 01, 2021
Space. The final frontier, the first step in a journey just beginning, or a horrifying void matched only by your deep fear of the ocean? Whatever your feelings on space, technology has been steadily pushing forwards to take exploration further, faster, and foodier than ever before. Space for seconds? Many people are familiar with the concept of freeze-dried food for astronauts, from

ESA and Mattel have released a Samantha Cristoforetti Barbie doll to coincide with World Space Week 2021 and its theme of ‘Women in Space’, to help encourage girls to become the next generation of astronauts, engineers and space scientists.

Beijing, China (SPX) Oct 04, 2021
Astronomers, from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of CAS and Nanjing University, revealed a wobbly and flared Milky Way disk based on LAMOST-Gaia data, which updates our understanding about the disk. The Milky Way is a typical disk galaxy. In the classical view of the Milky Way, the disk is symmetric and flat on t

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 04, 2021
The 2020 hurricane season was one of the most active on record, and 2021's is shaping up to be as well, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Each year, large-scale weather events like hurricanes and blizzards cause millions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses. To help prevent unnecessary losses, the National Weather Service mission of NOAA makes obser