NASA Astronaut Preps for First Space Station Mission, Available for Media Interviews

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, who is making final preparations for his launch next month on his first mission to the International Space Station, will be available for live satellite interviews from 8 to 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 7.

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NASA Explains Why June 30 Will Get Extra Second

The day will officially be a bit longer than usual on Tuesday, June 30, 2015, because an extra second, or "leap" second, will be added.

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CometWatch 21 June

Today's CometWatch entry is a single frame NAVCAM image taken on 21 June, when Rosetta was 177 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The resolution is 15.1 m/pixel and the image measures 15.4 km across. This orientation shows the small comet lobe to the top left, and the large lobe to the bottom right. The image was processed in LightRoom to enhance the comet's activity, which is evident all around the nucleus but appears especially dramatic in the top part of the image. On the small lobe, the small Serqet region is lit, with its sharp edge separating it from the rough terrains of Anuket, on the comet's neck. At the bottom of Anuket, parts of the smooth Hapi region are visible, while the cliffs of Hathor – also on the neck – are cast in shadow. A diffuse luminosity, likely due to the comet's activity, can be seen also near Hathor. The large lobe reveals parts of the Seth region, with its characteristic circular features, bordered towards the lower edge by Ash and to the right by the smooth terrains of Anubis. Beyond Anubis, to the far right, is the complex region Atum, and hints of the comet's activity seem to extend below its edge. Meanwhile, 541 new images have been added to the NAVCAM Archive Image Browser covering the period from 22 November to 19 December 2014, when Rosetta was approximately 20-30 km from the comet centre. Here is a preview of some of the newly released images: The original 1024 x 1024 image of today's CometWatch is provided below:

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NASA Invites Media to Tour VIPR, Aeronautics Research Project

NASA will host a behind-the-scenes tour of the Vehicle Integrated Propulsion Research (VIPR) project at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California on Thursday, July 9.

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NASA Administrator Statement on the Loss of SpaceX CRS-7

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the loss Sunday of the SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services 7 (CRS-7) mission.

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Rosetta and Philae: Searching for a good signal

After seven months in hibernation on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta’s lander Philae communicated with Earth via the orbiter on 13 June. Since then, seven periods of connection have been confirmed between the orbiter and lander, but all have been intermittent. One of the key issues being worked on is to adjust Rosetta’s trajectory to see whether a more reliable communications link can be established with Philae. This report describes the status of those efforts as of 26 June, and has been prepared with inputs from ESA’s Rosetta Science Ground Segment team at ESAC and the flight control team at ESOC, along with the Lander Control Centre at DLR. When have contacts been made? Confirmed contacts between Rosetta and Philae have been made on 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 23, and 24 June, but were intermittent during those contact periods. For example, the contact on 19 June was stable but split into two short periods of two minutes each. Conversely, the contact on 24 June started at 17:20 UT (on board Rosetta) and ran for 20 minutes, but the quality of the link was very patchy and only about 80 packets of telemetry were received. Prior to this, on Tuesday, 23 June, there was a 20-second contact, but no stable link was established and consequently no telemetry data were received. How frequently do Rosetta and Philae try to make contact? Comet 67P/C-G rotates with a 12.4 hour period and thus Philae’s location is not always visible to Rosetta. Roughly speaking, there are two opportunities for contact between the two spacecraft each Earth day, but their duration depends on the orientation of the transmitting antenna on Philae and the location of Rosetta along its trajectory around the comet. Similarly, as the comet rotates, Philae is not always in sunlight and […]

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NASA, Microsoft Collaborate to Bring Science Fiction to Science Fact

NASA and Microsoft are teaming up to develop Sidekick, a new project using commercial technology to empower astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

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Beijing Quadrupled in Size in a Decade, NASA Finds

Using a NASA satellite-based technique to measure urban growth, researchers found that Beijing, China, quadrupled in physical size between 2000 and 2009.

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NASA Invites Media, Social Media to a Space Launch System RS-25 Engine Test

Media and social media followers are invited to watch as NASA tests an RS-25 engine like those that will power the rocket that launches astronauts on missions to an asteroid and to Mars. The test will take place Thursday, August 13, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

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Under-Ice Rover Chills With Fish at Aquatic Exhibit

An under-ice rover prototype was tested at the California Science Center this week.

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NASA, Microsoft Collaborate to Bring Science Fiction to Science Fact

NASA and Microsoft are teaming up to develop Sidekick, a new project using commercial technology to empower astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

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Can Planets Be Rejuvenated Around Dead Stars?

An older planet may have reclaimed its youthful glow, according to new evidence from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

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NASA, NOAA Invite Social Media to Cover Jason-3 Launch

The agencies will host a one-day event for up to 70 social media followers on Aug. 8, 2015, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

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NASA Prepares for Future Space Exploration with International Undersea Crew

NASA will send an international crew to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean this summer to prepare for future deep space missions during the 14-day NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 20 expedition slated to begin July 20.

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Exposed water ice detected on comet’s surface

This article is mirrored from the main ESA web portal and covers the results published in a new  paper in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics titled "OSIRIS observations of metre-size exposures of H2O ice at the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and interpretation using laboratory experiments," by Antoine Pommerol et al.  Using the high-resolution science camera on board ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft, scientists have identified more than a hundred patches of water ice a few metres in size on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta arrived at the comet in August 2014 at a distance of about 100 km and eventually orbited the comet at 10 km or less, allowing high-resolution images of the surface to be acquired. A new study just published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics focuses on an analysis of bright patches of exposed ice on the comet’s surface. Based on observations of the gas emerging from comets, they are known to be rich in ices. As they move closer to the Sun along their orbits, their surfaces are warmed and the ices sublimate into gas, which streams away from the nucleus, dragging along dust particles embedded in the ice to form the coma and tail. But some of the comet’s dust also remains on the surface as the ice below sublimates, or falls back on to the nucleus elsewhere, coating it with a thin layer of dusty material and leaving very little ice directly exposed on the surface. These processes help to explain why Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and other comets seen in previous flyby missions are so dark. Despite this, Rosetta’s suite of instruments has already detected a variety of gases, including water vapour, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, thought to originate from frozen reservoirs below the surface. Now, using images taken with Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera last September, scientists […]

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CometWatch 15 June

Today's CometWatch entry is a single frame NAVCAM image taken on 15 June, when Rosetta was 207 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The resolution is 17.7 m/pixel and the image measures 18.1 km across. The image is processed to bring out the details of the comet’s activity and to highlight the shadows and silhouettes of its two lobes, which in this orientation shows the small lobe to the left and the large lobe to the right. The original 1024 x 1024 pixel image is provided below:

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NASA’s Chandra Captures X-Ray Echoes Pinpointing Distant Neutron Star

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered the largest and brightest set of rings from X-ray light echoes ever observed. These extraordinary rings, produced by an intense flare from a neutron star, provide astronomers a rare chance to determine how far across the Milky Way galaxy the star is from Earth.

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JPL, Caltech Team Up to Tackle Big-Data Projects

Scientists and engineers have a growing need for tools to help handle, explore and analyze big data. A new JPL/Caltech collaboration will help advance this important field.

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NASA, Partners Test Unmanned Aircraft Systems

NASA, working with government and industry partners, is testing a system that would make it possible for unmanned aircraft to fly routine operations in United States airspace.

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Rosetta mission extended

This announcement is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. The adventure continues: ESA today confirmed that its Rosetta mission will be extended until the end of September 2016, at which point the spacecraft will most likely be landed on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta was launched in 2004 and arrived at the comet in August 2014, where it has been studying the nucleus and its environment as the comet moves along its 6.5-year orbit closer to the Sun. After a detailed survey, Rosetta deployed the lander, Philae, to the surface on 12 November. Philae fell into hibernation after 57 hours of initial scientific operations, but recently awoke and made contact with Rosetta again. Rosetta’s nominal mission was originally funded until the end of December 2015, but at a meeting today, ESA’s Science Programme Committee has given formal approval to continue the mission for an additional nine months. At that point, as the comet moves far away from the Sun again, there will no longer be enough solar power to run Rosetta’s set of scientific instrumentation efficiently. “This is fantastic news for science,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta Project Scientist. “We’ll be able to monitor the decline in the comet’s activity as we move away from the Sun again, and we’ll have the opportunity to fly closer to the comet to continue collecting more unique data. By comparing detailed ‘before and after’ data, we’ll have a much better understanding of how comets evolve during their lifetimes.” Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will make its closest approach to the Sun on 13 August and Rosetta has been watching its activity increase over the last year. Continuing its study of the comet in the year following perihelion will give scientists a fuller picture of how a comet’s activity waxes and wanes along its orbit. […]

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NASA Signs Agreement with Space Florida to Operate Historic Landing Facility

A new agreement marks another step in the transformation of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a multi-user spaceport. NASA’s historic Shuttle Landing Facility, the site of one of the longest runways in the world, has a new operator.

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Media Invited to Tour Journey to Mars Exhibits with Senior NASA Leaders

Senior NASA officials will help showcase the agency’s work on the Journey to Mars during a Mars Day on the Hill event Thursday, June 25, in the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer in Washington.

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NASA Selects Six Wild Ideas in Aviation for Further Study

NASA has selected six proposals to study transformative ideas that might expand what's possible in aviation, shifting the boundary between fantastic and futuristic.

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Ceres Spots Continue to Mystify in Latest Dawn Images

The closer we get to Ceres, the more intriguing the distant dwarf planet becomes.

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The Mysterious 'Lakes' on Saturn's Moon Titan

A recent study finds that an Earth-like process may be responsible for creating depressions resembling lakes in the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

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Rosetta's MIRO Instrument Maps Comet Water

Data from NASA's MIRO instrument on board ESA's Rosetta spacecraft have been used to generate maps of the distribution of water in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

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NASA TV Coverage Set for Seventh SpaceX Resupply Mission to Space Station

NASA commercial partner SpaceX currently is targeting Sunday, June 28, for the launch of its seventh cargo delivery to the International Space Station under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 9 a.m. EDT.

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Veteran NASA Spacecraft Nears 60,000th Lap Around Mars, No Pit Stops

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft will reach a major milestone June 23, when it completes its 60,000th orbit since arriving at the Red Planet in 2001.

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Veteran NASA Spacecraft Nears 60,000th Lap Around Mars, No Pit Stops

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft will reach a major milestone June 23, when it completes its 60,000th orbit since arriving at the Red Planet in 2001.

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CometWatch 14 June

Today's CometWatch entry is a single frame NAVCAM image taken on 14 June, when Rosetta was 203 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The resolution is 17.3 m/pixel and the image measures 17.7 km across. The image was processed in LightRoom to enhance the activity of 67P/C-G, resulting in a powerful juxtaposition of contrasts. Pointing upwards, the small comet lobe shows the narrow and bouldered regions of Serqet and Nut, along with some parts of Ma'at and Maftet. A hint of the large Hatmehit depression can also be seen towards the top left, its outer rim nicely framed by outflowing material in the background. Anuket and Hapi, on the comet's neck, are cast in the shadow of the small lobe. Parts of the large lobe are also hidden in the shadows, while the illuminated portion reveals some of the circular features of the Seth region and, to their right, the smoother terrains of Anubis, punctuated with a few boulders. In the lower part of the image, the dark portions of the large lobe stand out against the brighter background of the coma. Interestingly, this can be seen also in the original (unprocessed) 1024 x 1024 image, which is provided below:

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Rosetta and Philae in contact again

ESA and its Rosetta mission partners have confirmed that another communication link has been made between Rosetta and Philae today. The signal was transmitted from Rosetta to ESA’s space operations centre in Darmstadt and received at 15:37 CEST on 19 June, and confirmed by the Lander Control Centre at the German Space Centre, DLR. A second signal was received at 15:54 CEST. The downlink was stable; the two contacts received by Rosetta lasted two minutes each. Both delivered numerous packets of lander housekeeping and status data, 185 in total, which are still being analysed at the time of this writing. No science data were anticipated or received. “We are very happy to have received signals from the lander again, and we are all working hard towards establishing a robust link between Rosetta and Philae,” comments Patrick Martin, ESA Rosetta mission manager. This was the first signal received from Philae since 14 June. This was not unexpected, however, due to the pre-planned science operations of the orbiter, and its location around 180 km above the comet’s surface today. In the meantime, new commands have been uploaded to Rosetta to further adjust its trajectory and distance from the comet to improve the radio visibility between the two spacecraft, with the first sets of thruster burns taking place on Wednesday morning. The goal is to bring Rosetta to about 177 km from the comet nucleus and keep it in a range of latitudes that maximise opportunities for lander communication. The Rosetta and Philae teams will be closely monitoring subsequent transmissions between the spacecraft, not only to better determine the health of the lander, but also to understand the length and frequency of available communication timeslots. This information is needed to determine when to upload new commands in order to restart science operations and, […]

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Rosetta tracks debris around comet

This blog post is based on the papers “Orbital elements of material surrounding comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,” by B. Davidsson et al, and “Search for satellites near comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using Rosetta/OSIRIS images,” by I. Bertini et al, which are both accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Ever since its approach to and arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, Rosetta has been investigating the nucleus and its environment with a variety of instruments and techniques. One key area is the study of dust grains and other objects in the vicinity of the comet. Earlier this year, an analysis of measurements from GIADA – Rosetta’s Grain Impact Analyzer and Dust Accumulator – and images from the OSIRIS camera revealed hundreds of individual grains, either bound to the comet's gravity or flowing away from it. These included small grains as well as much larger chunks, with sizes ranging from a few centimetres to two metres. Lumps up to four metres in size were also identified by NASA's EPOXI mission in the environment of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 after its flyby of this comet in 2010. A new study based on OSIRIS images has now built on these previous detections of cometary chunks, using dedicated observations to perform a dynamical study and determine, for the first time, the orbits of four pieces of debris, the largest of them half a metre in size, in orbit around 67P/C-G. “Previous studies were based on a handful of images of a given field, and this was sufficient to detect chunks of material and say that they are moving. However, to determine their trajectories and demonstrate whether they are truly bound to the comet, we need dozens of images taken over an extended period of time,” explains Björn Davidsson, an OSIRIS scientist at Uppsala University, Sweden, and lead author of the paper […]

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MIRO maps water in comet’s coma

In a paper accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the MIRO team present their first map of water vapour in the coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. MIRO, the Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter, first detected the emission from water molecules in the coma of Comet 67P/C-G on 6 June 2014, when Rosetta was 350,000 km from the comet, approximately equivalent to the distance of the Earth from the Moon. At the time, the comet was 3.9 AU – about 580 million km – from the Sun. Since early July 2014, the MIRO team have been continuously monitoring water in the comet's environment, measuring its properties at different locations across the coma. Being in very close proximity to 67P/C-G, Rosetta, with the MIRO instrument on board, can 'dissect' the distribution of water and other molecules around the comet. Existing ground-based observatories and near-Earth space telescopes can at most get a global view of water in the outermost parts of a comet's coma. As Rosetta approached the comet and MIRO could resolve the nucleus, the instrument was able to detect water in the coma by measuring the direct emission from water vapour in the coma and by observing absorption of radiation from the nucleus at water specific frequencies as the radiation passed through the coma. On 7 September 2014, when Rosetta was 58 km from the comet centre, the MIRO team obtained their first map of the nucleus of 67P/C-G and its surroundings. Since MIRO is a single-pixel instrument, the scanning procedure took almost four hours, during which the nucleus had turned by about 90 degrees. The map shows 201 spectra, covering the nucleus as well as parts of the coma around it. Each spectrum corresponds to the average of one to four nearby spectra, that were combined to […]

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Jason-3 Satellite Arrives at California Launch Site

The newest addition to a venerable line of ocean-monitoring satellites has arrived at its launch site in California to prepare for its launch in August.

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Cassini Sends Back Views After Zooming Past Dione

The rugged landscape of Saturn's fracture-faced moon Dione is revealed in images sent back by NASA's Cassini spacecraft from its latest flyby.

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University Students Win NASA/NIA Space Engineering Design Contest

Future astronauts may someday explore Mars using winning concepts from NASA’s 2015 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) Competition.

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NASA Joins North Sea Oil Cleanup Training Exercise

A NASA aircraft joined a Norwegian oil spill cleanup exercise, testing a scientific instrument's ability to recognize more and less damaging types of oil slicks.

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NASA Hosts Rocket Week at Wallops Flight Facility

Students and educators from across the country will have the chance to be rocket scientists during Rocket Week, June 20-26 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

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All Systems Go for NASA's Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa

Europa is considered one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for signs of present-day life, and a new NASA mission to explore this potential is moving forward.

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All Systems Go for NASA's Mission to Jupiter Moon Europa

Beyond Earth, Jupiter’s moon Europa is considered one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for signs of present-day life, and a new NASA mission to explore this potential is moving forward from concept review to development.

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International Spacecraft Carrying NASA's Aquarius Instrument Ends Operations

Aquarius/SAC-D, an international Earth-observing mission that carries NASA's Aquarius instrument, ended June 8 when an essential component of the spacecraft power and attitude control system stopped operating.

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NASA Astronauts Headline Public Events in Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Online

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry “Butch” Wilmore will be making several stops in the Washington area June 22-26 to share with many audiences their experiences aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

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NASA 'Eyes' Study Louisiana's Changing Wetlands

NASA has completed an intensive study of Louisiana Gulf Coast levees and wetlands, using three advanced instruments on two research aircraft.

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CometWatch 7 June

While the Rosetta and Philae teams are busy planning the next activities for the spacecraft and lander, CometWatch continues with a new view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko captured on 7 June 2015, several days before Philae's wake-up call was received. This single frame NAVCAM image, taken at a distance of 203 km from the comet, has a resolution of 17.3 m/pixel and measures 17.8 km across. The comet appears with the larger lobe up, its 'underside' gloriously illuminated. Familiar features of the Imhotep region are visible at the centre, as well as parts of Ash towards the top left. The elongated depression of Aten is partly cast in shadow and lies to to the lower left, with parts of Khepry to its right. The image was processed to bring out the comet's activity, showing a multitude of jets – especially in the upper part of the image – but also the overall glow around the nucleus. Below the larger lobe, a beautifully delineated silhouette of the comet's neck and smaller lobe stands out against the diffuse material in the coma of 67P/C-G. Another NAVCAM image of the comet, taken by Rosetta shortly before receiving Philae's signal on 13 June 2015, was published on Monday, alongside a status update on the operational aspects after the lander's historic wake-up. A press briefing with members of the Rosetta and Philae team took place this morning at 09:30 CEST at the International Paris Air and Space Show, Le Bourget, and the replay will be available soon. The original 1024 x 1024 image of today's CometWatch is provided below:

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Study: Third of Big Groundwater Basins in Distress

UC Irvine studies using NASA GRACE data find a third of Earth's largest groundwater basins are being rapidly depleted by human use, despite little data about how much water remains.

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NASA, German Aerospace Center Partner for Research into Advanced Aircraft

NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have signed agreements to work together to reduce aircraft noise and advance research into rotorcraft, two projects that extend years of vital cooperation between the two agencies.

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NASA, UN Photo Competition Highlights Why Space Matters on Earth

NASA, UN Photo Competition Highlights Why Space Matters on Earth

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NASA Administrator Signs Agreements to Advance Agency's Journey to Mars

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden signed agreements with two European partners to advance Mars exploration and our journey to the Red Planet during meetings Tuesday at the Paris Air Show.

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Preparing Rosetta to listen for lander

Commands to adjust the trajectory were successfully uploaded Monday evening; further commands will be uplinked on Thursday evening.

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Rosetta Mission at the Paris Air and Space Show

ESA is at the International Paris Air and Space Show, Le Bourget, this week. Tomorrow, Wednesday 17 June, a press briefing will be dedicated to the Rosetta Mission. Members of the Rosetta and Philae teams will provide an update on the mission, present some of the latest results, and outline what still lies ahead. Speakers include: Mark McCaughrean, Senior Science Adviser, ESA; Elsa Montagnon, Deputy Rosetta Flight Director, ESA;  Philippe Gaudon, CNES Philae project manager, CNES; Jean-Pierre Bibring, Lead Lander Scientist, IAS Orsay. (Line up may be subject to change.) Watch live on Wednesday at 09:30-10:45 CEST, here. More information about ESA at Le Bourget can be found here.  

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Asteroid Icarus to Make Distant Pass Tuesday

Asteroid Icarus will safely pass by Earth more than 21 times the distance of Earth to the moon on June 16.

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Rosetta's Lander Philae Wakes From Comet Nap

Rosetta's Philae lander wakes up from hibernation on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

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NASA Solicits Proposals for Use of Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 2

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has released an announcement for proposals (AFP) for private companies interested in using its Vehicle Assembly Building, High Bay 2 (VAB HB2) for assembly, integration and testing of launch vehicles.

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Saturn Spacecraft to Buzz Icy Moon Dione June 16

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make a close flyby of Saturn's moon Dione on June 16, coming within 321 miles (516 kilometers) of the moon's surface.

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Philae wake-up triggers intense planning

The receipt of signals from Rosetta’s Philae lander on 13 June after 211 days of hibernation marked the start of intense activity. In coordination with its mission partners, ESA teams are working to juggle Rosetta’s flight plan to help with renewed lander science investigations.  Philae has woken up after seven months in hibernation on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Hidden by shadows, Philae shut down on 15 November 2014 at 00:36 GMT after completing its main science operations sequence on the comet when the primary battery expired as expected after about 60 hours. Since March 2015, when Philae’s environmental conditions started to improve with higher surface temperatures and better illumination, the orbiter’s receiver had been turned on periodically to listen for signals from the lander when the orbital geometry was thought to be optimum. On the evening of 13 June, a weak but solid radio link between Rosetta and the lander was finally established for 85 seconds. More than 300 ‘packets’ – 663 kbits – of lander housekeeping telemetry were received. This information had been stored on board at an as-yet-to-be determined time in the past, as much as several days to a few weeks, so does not necessarily reflect the lander’s current status. Rosetta then relayed the signal to ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany, at 20:28 GMT. “We are still examining the housekeeping information at the Lander Control Centre in the DLR German Aerospace Center’s establishment in Cologne, but we can already tell that all lander subsystems are working nominally, with no apparent degradation after more than half a year hiding out on the comet’s frozen surface,” says DLR's Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Project Manager. A second, smaller burst of lander data was received on Sunday, 14 June, at about 21:26 GMT, lasting just a few seconds. These […]

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How we heard from Philae

I picked up the phone and said: 'This has to be bad news. We've got a safe mode, don't we?' He replied, 'Well, maybe not. Maybe it's good news!'

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NASA Deputy Administrator Visits Langley, Views Boeing ecoDemonstrator Aircraft

The Boeing ecoDemonstrator 757 test plane will be at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia Thursday, June 18 to celebrate its partnership with NASA in testing innovative green aviation technologies. Dava Newman, NASA’s new Deputy Administrator, also will be at Langley to meet with center employees and tour the aircraft.

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NASA Celebrates Martian New Year in Mars, Pennsylvania

NASA will land in Mars, Pennsylvania Friday, June 19 to celebrate Mars’ New Year with Red Planet enthusiasts of the Keystone State for three days of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) activities. The goal is to encourage young people to pursue careers in in these critical fields of study that will enable NASA's journey t

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Rosetta’s lander Philae wakes up from hibernation

Rosetta's lander Philae is out of hibernation! The signals were received at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST on 13 June. More than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). "Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," explains DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec. "The lander is ready for operations." For 85 seconds Philae "spoke" with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November. When analysing the status data it became clear that Philae also must have been awake earlier: "We have also received historical data - so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier." Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact.  There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae’s mass memory which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Philae shut down on 15 November 2015 at 1:15 CET after being in operation on the comet for about 60 hours. Since 12 March 2015 the communication unit on orbiter Rosetta was turned on to listen out for the lander. More information when we have it! Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its Member States and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is contributed by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.

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NASA Awards $100,000 to Winning Team of Robot Challenge

NASA Awards $100,000 to Winning Team of Robot Challenge

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NASA Awards Next Generation Contract at NASA Shared Services Center

NASA has awarded a contract to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of Huntsville, Alabama, to provide business, administrative and technical support services to the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC).

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NASA, University Researchers Discuss Search for Life in Solar System, Beyond

NASA and university scientists will discuss at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday June 16, astrobiology research activities and technology that are advancing the search for evidence of habitability in our solar system and beyond. The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

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NASA Prepares for First Interplanetary CubeSats

When NASA launches its next mission on the journey to Mars - a stationary lander in 2016 - the flight will include the first two CubeSats sent to deep space.

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NASA Issues Request for Proposals for New Class of Launch Services

NASA’s Launch Services Program has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for new commercial Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) for small satellites, often called CubeSats or nanosatellites, and experiments on science missions using a class of rockets smaller than any currently available to the agency.

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CometWatch from Earth – 22 May

Astronomers using ESO’s ground-based Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile are watching the development of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s coma and tail from Earth. This image is based on data acquired on 22 May and is about 300 000 km wide at the distance of the comet. The comet’s dusty coma and tail is swept away from the Sun, which is towards the left of the image in this orientation. The tail can be seen to stretch at least 120 000 km in this relatively shallow image, and in deeper images, the coma alone is estimated to be at least 80–100 000 km across. As each pixel in this image spans roughly 400 km at the comet, both Rosetta and the nucleus of 67P/C-G are too small to be resolved. But images like these provide important context information for the images taken by the spacecraft close to the comet, as its activity increases towards perihelion. At the time the image was taken Rosetta and the comet were about 238 million km from the Sun; at perihelion on 13 August they will be between the orbits of Earth and Mars at a distance of about 186 million km from the Sun. This image will be shown as part of the BBC Sky at Night TV programme in the UK on Sunday 14 June. The episode is a Rosetta special and includes interviews with a number of scientists discussing what we have learned about Comet 67P/C-G so far.  

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NASA Prepares for First Interplanetary CubeSats on Agency’s Next Mission to Mars

When NASA launches its next mission on the journey to Mars – a stationary lander in 2016 – the flight will include two CubeSats. This will be the first time CubeSats have flown in deep space. If this flyby demonstration is successful, the technology will provide NASA the ability to quickly transmit status information about the main spacecraft afte

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CometWatch 5 June

Today’s CometWatch entry was taken on 5 June 2015, from a distance of 208 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 17.7 m/pixel and the image measures 18.1 km across. The image has been processed to bring out the details of the comet’s activity, which in this orientation shows off the spectacular display around the smaller of the two lobes. The processed image also highlights the shadows cast by the two lobes across the background activity, in particular the sharp shadow and silhouetted large lobe towards the bottom of the scene. The original 1024 x 1024 pixel image is provided below:

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NASA Announces Television Coverage, Media Activities for Pluto Flyby

NASA is inviting media to cover New Horizons’ historic Pluto flyby in mid-July, including the spacecraft’s closest approach to Pluto on July 14, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, site of the mission operations center.

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Helium-Shrouded Planets May Be Common in Our Galaxy

The wacky world of exoplanets continues to surprise astronomers.

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NASA’s Hubble Telescope Detects ‘Sunscreen’ Layer on Distant Planet

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has detected a stratosphere, one of the primary layers of Earth’s atmosphere, on a massive and blazing-hot exoplanet known as WASP-33b.

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NASA Hosts Media for Update on Asteroid Grand Challenge, Robotics Tour

Media and social media are invited to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland Tuesday, June 16 for an update on the agency's Asteroid Grand Challenge and the robotic systems that will be used on asteroid exploration missions.

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Expedition 43 Crew Departs Space Station, Lands Safely in Kazakhstan

Three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth Thursday after a 199-day mission that included several spacewalks, technology demonstrations, and hundreds of scientific experiments spanning multiple disciplines, including human and plant biology.

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The quest to find Philae

Rosetta and Philae teams continue to search for the current location of the lander, piecing together clues from its unexpected flight over the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after its initial landing on 12 November. While Rosetta continues to study the ever-changing comet from a distance, the mission teams have been trying to narrow down the location of Philae on the comet nucleus using a variety of data, including imaging, magnetic field, and radio wave measurements. Philae first touched down at the Agilkia landing site on the head of Comet 67P/C-G at 15:34 GMT on 12 November 2014, confirmation arriving back at Earth via Rosetta 28 minutes later. Unfortunately Philae’s harpoons did not deploy and the ice screws alone proved insufficient to secure the lander at Agilkia. As a result, the lander rebounded for an additional two-hour flight before finally coming to rest at a site now known as Abydos. Both Rosetta’s navigation camera and the high-resolution OSIRIS camera successfully identified the first touchdown point, with Philae’s down-looking ROLIS camera providing high-resolution views of the location  from as close as 9 metres altitude. The bouncing lander was then identified in OSIRIS  and NAVCAM images shortly after it had left Agilkia. Somewhat later, another OSIRIS image was thought to show Philae above the horizon of the large depression known as Hatmehit  on the comet’s head. Magnetic field measurements from Philae’s ROMAP provided further details on subsequent events as the lander flew above the comet, including precise timing of the various contact points. Initially, the lander flew in a stable orientation, but is then thought to have struck a surface feature at 16:20 GMT, after which it tumbled. A third touchdown occurred at 17:25 GMT, followed by a much shorter bounce of just a few minutes, before Philae finally arrived at Abydos at […]

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Bright Spots Shine in Newest Dawn Ceres Images

New images of dwarf planet Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, show the cratered surface of this mysterious world in sharper detail than ever before.

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NASA's LDSD Project Completes Second Experimental Test Flight

Engineers are poring over the data following the second experimental landing technology test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project.

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NASA's LDSD Project Completes Second Experimental Test Flight

Engineers are poring over the data following the second experimental landing technology test of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project. The saucer-shaped LDSD craft splashed down at 11:49 a.m. HST (5:49 p.m. EDT) Monday in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

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NASA Releases Detailed Global Climate Change Projections

NASA has released data showing how temperature and rainfall patterns worldwide may change through the year 2100 because of growing concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere.

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RoboSimian Drives, Walks and Drills in Robotics Finals

The ape-like RoboSimian robot, developed at JPL, took fifth place in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals.

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NASA to Hold Briefing to Discuss Status of 'Flying Saucer' Test

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator project completed its second flight test when the saucer-shaped craft splashed down safely Monday in the ocean off the coast of Kauai.

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CometWatch 1 June

Today’s CometWatch entry was taken on 1 June 2015, from a distance of 209 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 17.8 m/pixel and the image measures 18.2 km across. The image has been processed to bring out the details of the comet’s activity, which can be seen all around the sunlit side of the comet. In this orientation the comet’s small lobe is to the left and the large lobe to the right, with much of the southern hemisphere facing towards the spacecraft. The outline of the rim of the large depression Hatmehit can be seen at the very far left, while at the far right a hint of Imhotep can just be made out. The flat surface at the top of the large lobe in this orientation is in the Aker/Khepry region. The rugged terrain that faces us has only become visible in more recent months, having previously been cast in shadow. But even at a distance of over 200 km it is clear that this is a complex region with a variety of surface textures. The original 1024 x 1024 pixel image is provided below:

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NASA to Hold Briefing to Discuss Status of 'Flying Saucer' Test

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project completed its second flight test when the saucer-shaped craft splashed down safely Monday in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. A post-flight media teleconference will be held at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 9 to review the test.

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NASA to Hold Briefing to Discuss Status of ‘Flying Saucer’ Test

NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project completed its second flight test when the saucer-shaped craft splashed down safely Monday in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. A post-flight media teleconference will be held at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 9 to review the test.

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NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Achieves Pad Abort Milestone Approval

NASA has approved a $30 million milestone payment to SpaceX under the agency’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreement with the company following a recent and successful pad abort test of its Crew Dragon spacecraft.

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NASA Spacecraft Detects Impact Glass on Surface of Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected deposits of glass within impact craters on Mars.

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NASA Spacecraft Detects Impact Glass on Surface of Mars

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected deposits of glass within impact craters on Mars. Though formed in the searing heat of a violent impact, such deposits might provide a delicate window into the possibility of past life on the Red Planet.

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Fly Over Ceres in New Video

A new animated video of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, provides a unique perspective of this heavily cratered, mysterious world.

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NASA Selects Eight Projects for 2016 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge

NASA is working with eight U.S. universities on new technology projects for deep space exploration, including the agency’s journey to Mars, as part of the 2016 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge.

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Sunset jets

Activity on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko continues to rise, with new images from OSIRIS showing that some regions remain active even after nightfall. This report is provided by the OSIRIS team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany. Rosetta’s scientific camera OSIRIS captured the sunset jets in the Ma’at region of the comet’s small lobe in late April. Images were taken approximately half an hour after the Sun had set over the region and show clearly defined jets of dust escaping into space. “Only recently have we begun to observe dust jets persisting even after sunset,” says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany. Until recently, the comet’s activity originated from illuminated areas on the day side. As soon as the Sun set, these jets subsided and did not re-awaken until after sunrise the following day. One recent exception was the event captured on 12 March, which caught the onset of a dust jet at the brink of dawn, in the Imhotep region on the comet’s large lobe. According to the OSIRIS scientists, the sunset jets are another sign of the comet’s increasing activity. “Currently, 67P is rapidly approaching perihelion in mid-August,” says Sierks. “The solar irradiation is getting more and more intense, the illuminated surface warmer and warmer.” At the time the image was taken, the comet was 270 million kilometres from the Sun. By the time the comet reaches perihelion on 13 August, the separation will be just 186 million kilometres. The OSIRIS team think that the comet can store the incoming heat for some time beneath its surface, resulting in sustained activity from these regions even after nightfall. “While the dust covering the comet’s surface cools rapidly after sunset, deeper layers remain warm for […]

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NASA Awards Science Mission Support Contract

NASA has awarded a contract to Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT), Inc., of Greenbelt, Maryland for support of various science programs and projects at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

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NASA Television to Air Return of Three Space Station Crew Members

After more than six months of performing scientific research and technology demonstrations in space, three International Space Station crew members are scheduled to depart the orbiting laboratory Thursday, June 11. NASA Television will provide coverage of their station departure and return to Earth.

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CometWatch 23 May

Today's CometWatch entry was taken on 23 May, when Rosetta was 138.1 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The single frame NAVCAM image has resolution of 11.8 m/pixel and measures 12.1 km across. The image was processed in LightRoom to convey the ever increasing activity of the comet, with swirling outflows of material emanating from various parts of the nucleus. In this orientation, with the large comet lobe up and the small one down, the neck region remains hidden in shadows. The small lobe is dominated by the rough Anuket region and the sharp edge that separates it from Serqet, which lies mostly out of view to the bottom. A diffuse glow appears to emanate from a portion of the small lobe that is hidden from sight in this image, suggestive of the activity seen close to Hatmehit, the circular depression on the small lobe, in CometWatch 20 May. On the large lobe, we see parts of the complex terrain in and surrounding the Atum region. Some of its features are casting shadows on the smoother Anubis region towards the centre of this view.. As shown in previously published images of this portion of 67P/C-G, a curious set of aligned linear features can be seen. Revisit the CometWatch entries taken on 21 March 2015 (and close-up from 24 October 2014) as well as on 16 January 2015, 20 November and 19 September 2014, to view this landmark and its surroundings in more detail and from different orientations. The original 1024 x 1024 image is provided below:

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NASA Awards Administrative Support Contract for Johnson Space Center

NASA has awarded Exceed Resources Inc., of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, a five-year contract to provide administrative and secretarial support services at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.

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NASA Announces Education Research Program Award Recipients

NASA is awarding a total of approximately $11.25 million to universities in 15 states to conduct basic research and technology development in areas critical to the agency’s mission.

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Robotics Teams Prepare to Compete for $1.5 Million in NASA Challenge

Twenty robotics teams, ranging from university students to small businesses, are preparing to compete June 8-13 in the fourth running of the NASA Sample Return Robot Challenge for a prize purse of $1.5 million.

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Mars Missions to Pause Commanding in June, Due to Sun

Next month, Mars will swing almost directly behind the sun from Earth's perspective, and this celestial geometry will lead to diminished communications with spacecraft at Mars.

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NASA’s Hubble Finds Pluto’s Moons Tumbling in Absolute Chaos

If you lived on one of Pluto’s moons, you might have a hard time determining when, or from which direction, the sun will rise each day. Comprehensive analysis of data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows that two of Pluto’s moons, Nix and Hydra, wobble unpredictably.

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NASA Invests in Future of Aviation with Supersonic Research Projects

Quieter, greener supersonic travel is the focus of eight studies selected by NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project to receive more than $2.3 million in funding for research that may help overcome the remaining barriers to commercial supersonic flight.

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CometWatch 21 May

This impressive view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was captured on 21 May from a distance of 156.8 km from the comet centre. It is a single frame image with a resolution of 13.4 m/pixel, and measures 13.7 km across. The intensities and contrast have been adjusted to emphasise the activity of the comet. Activity is seen all around the nucleus, but in this view is most notable around the head, with many distinct, bright jets streaming from the surface. Intricate patterns of activity are also cast around the neck and against the shadow of the small lobe. The rather flat face on the comet’s large lobe, comprising parts of Aker and Khepry, dominates the view of the nucleus. The elongate Aten region lies adjacent, with diffuse wisps of activity hanging in front of this shadowed depression. A fainter cloud of activity is also visible below the shadowed underside of the comet’s large lobe. Today’s image also makes for a nice comparison with the 26 April entry, which shows the comet in a similar orientation. The original 1024 x 1024 pixel image is provided below:

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NASA Instrument on Rosetta Makes Comet Atmosphere Discovery

NASA's Alice instrument on Rosetta finds that electrons near its target comet cause rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules released from the comet's nucleus.

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Cassini Sends Final Close Views of Odd Moon Hyperion

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has returned images from its final close approach to Saturn's oddball moon Hyperion, upholding the moon's reputation as one of the most bizarre objects in the solar system.

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Ultraviolet study reveals surprises in comet coma

This news item is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. Rosetta’s continued close study of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has revealed an unexpected process at work, causing the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the comet’s surface. ESA’s Rosetta mission arrived at the comet in August last year. Since then, it has been orbiting or flying past the comet at distances from as far as several hundred kilometres down to as little as 8 km. While doing so, it has been collecting data on every aspect of the comet’s environment with its suite of 11 science instruments. One instrument, the Alice spectrograph provided by NASA, has been examining the chemical composition of the comet’s atmosphere, or coma, at far-ultraviolet wavelengths. At these wavelengths, Alice allows scientists to detect some of the most abundant elements in the Universe such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. The spectrograph splits the comet’s light into its various colours – its spectrum – from which scientists can identify the chemical composition of the coma gases. In a paper accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, scientists report the detections made by Alice from Rosetta’s first four months at the comet, when the spacecraft was between 10 km and 80 km from the centre of the comet nucleus. For this study, the team focused on the nature of ‘plumes’ of water and carbon dioxide gas erupting from the comet’s surface, triggered by the warmth of the Sun. To do so, they looked at the emission from hydrogen and oxygen atoms resulting from broken water molecules, and similarly carbon atoms from carbon dioxide molecules, close to the comet nucleus. They discovered that the molecules seem to be broken up in a two-step process. First, an ultraviolet photon from the Sun hits a […]

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You Get to Watch It Live -- NASA's Flying Saucer Test

NASA's LDSD project will beam back live imagery from a supersonic, edge-of-atmosphere test of braking technology for Mars.

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NASA Tests Aircraft Wing Coatings that Slough Bug Guts

Bug guts create drag, and drag increases fuel consumption. But aircraft of the future could be made more fuel-efficient with non-stick coatings NASA recently tested on Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator 757.

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