NASA’s Juno Mission on Course for July 4 Arrival at Jupiter, Media Accreditation Open

Media accreditation now is open for events around the arrival of NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter on July 4. The spacecraft, which will reveal the story of the formation and evolution of the planet Jupiter, will enter into orbit around the gas giant that evening, five years after leaving Earth.

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Sen. Mikulski, NASA Administrator Bolden to View Progress at Wallops Flight Facility

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia will host Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and agency Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday, May 3, for an employee town hall and tour. The tour will include a stop at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A, where preparations are underway to conduct a hot fire test of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket

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CometWatch 24 April

This week's CometWatch was taken by Rosetta's NAVCAM on 24 April 2016, 28 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It captures a beautiful ‘skyline’ taking in parts of the comet’s southern hemisphere regions. Bes and Geb on the comet’s large lobe lie to the far left of the scene. Zooming in to the exposed cliff faces reveals criss-cross fracture patterns that have also been identified in many other locations on the comet (see an earlier blog post ‘Do comet fractures drive surface evolution?’ for more). The boulder-strewn neck region in the middle of the view features Sobek, which transitions up through Neith and Wosret on the small comet lobe to the right. Also released this week by Rosetta’s OSIRIS team was a stunning narrow-angle camera shot capturing an oblique view over Imhotep (above). In this orientation, Bes lies to the left and Khonsu is to the right. The view complements an earlier release from the OSIRIS wide-angle camera taken from about 12 km. The original NAVCAM image from today’s release is provided below:

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NASA Dedicates Facility to Mathematician, Presidential Medal Winner

NASA will commemorate the many contributions of retired mathematician Katherine Johnson to America’s space program during a building dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 5 -- the 55th anniversary of Alan Shepard's historic rocket launch and splash down, which Johnson helped make possible. The ceremony will air live on NASA Television and

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NASA Awards Academic Mission Services Contract

NASA has selected Universities Space Research Association (USRA) of Columbia, Maryland, to provide academic/university-based program and project support for science and engineering teams at the agency’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

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NASA Selects American Small Business, Research Institution Projects for Further Development

NASA has selected 399 research and technology proposals from 259 American small businesses and 42 research institutions that will enable NASA's future missions into deep space, while also benefiting the U.S. economy. The awards have a total value of approximately $49.7 million.

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NASA Puts Dallas Students on Phone with Orbiting Astronauts

Students in Dallas will have the opportunity to speak with two astronauts living and working aboard the International Space Station at 11:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday, April 26. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

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CometWatch 19 April

This week's CometWatch features an image obtained with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 19 April 2016, 29.4 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At these close distances, the comet nucleus overfills the field of view of the camera. In this view, which is not centred on the comet, only a portion of the nucleus is in sight, with the small comet lobe up and the large lobe down. On the small lobe, which is casting shadows on the comet's neck underneath, we can see the rugged terrains of the Bastet region. On the large lobe, the view is dominated by a smooth portion of Aker, just below the neck in this view, which gradually declines towards the rougher Khepry. In the lower right corner, a part of the Babi region is visible, with hints of the elongated Aten cast in shadow. A portion of Babi is also featured, from a different viewpoint, in this recent image captured by Rosetta's OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on 13 April (on the right). In this orientation, the small comet lobe is in the foreground, in the lower right corner of the image, with the large lobe on the left. The view on the small lobe reveals the large circular depression of Hatmehit, covered in dust and boulders, with smooth portions of Ma'at to its left. On the large lobe, in the background, are the terrains of Babi, which degrade towards the smoother Ash region, visible in the lower left. A different perspective is offered in another OSIRIS image (below), taken yesterday with the wide-angle camera from a distance of about 30 km. In this view, the large comet lobe points up, with the flat landscape of Imhotep beautifully illuminated, revealing boulders, circular basins and other geological features of this region, and portions of Ash visible on the […]

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NASA Astronaut Kjell Lindgren Visits Washington April 25-29

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, who lived and worked nearly five months on the International Space Station as a flight engineer, will make multiple appearances across Washington April 25-29 to share highlights from his 141-day mission in space.

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NASA Seeks Industry Ideas for an Advanced Mars Satellite

NASA is soliciting ideas from U.S. industry for designs of a Mars orbiter for potential launch in the 2020s. The satellite would provide advanced communications and imaging, as well as robotic science exploration, in support of NASA’s Journey to Mars.

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NASA Seeks Proposals for Deep Space Habitation Prototypes

NASA is soliciting proposals for the development of prototypes for deep space habitats that will give astronauts a place to call home during long-duration missions supporting the agency’s Journey to Mars.

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NASA to Discuss Latest Developments in Solar Electric Propulsion for Future Deep Space Exploration

NASA will host a media teleconference at 11:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, April 21, to discuss the latest advances in the agency’s development of solar electric propulsion (SEP) for deep space exploration.

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NASA Works to Improve Solar Electric Propulsion for Deep Space Exploration

NASA has selected Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. of Redmond, Washington, to design and develop an advanced electric propulsion system that will significantly advance the nation's commercial space capabilities, and enable deep space exploration missions, including the robotic portion of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) and its Journey to Mars.

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NASA Celebrates Earth Day with Public Events Online Activities

This year, NASA will celebrate Earth Day, April 22, with a variety of live and online activities Thursday and Friday, April 21-22, to engage the public in the agency’s mission to better understand and protect our home planet.

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Space science image of the week: Around Anuket

A recent NAVCAM image of Comet 67P-Churyumov Gerasimenko is featured as our ESA Space Science Image of the Week. Vaguely suggestive of a face immersed in deep thoughts, the image shows the rough landscape of Anuket, a region of rugged terrains on the small comet lobe and declining towards the large lobe, which is located beyond the lower-right corner of the image. Also visible in this view are Serqet, on the upper left, Ma'at on the lower left, partly cast in shadow, and a hint of Hathor, albeit cast in shadow, in the lower part of the image. The original NAVCAM image is provided below.

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NASA Astronaut to Call Columbia University Students from International Space Station

Students from Columbia University in New York will have the opportunity to speak with a NASA astronaut currently living and working on the International Space Station at 1:10 p.m. EDT Thursday, April 21. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

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CometWatch 10 April

After a far excursion to explore the tail of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta is now back to closer distances from the comet nucleus. This week's CometWatch image was obtained with Rosetta's NAVCAM at 01:39 UTC on 10 April 2016, 31.4 km away. On the night between 9 and 10 April 2016, the spacecraft performed a special flyby, 30 km from the nucleus and with a phase angle very close to zero degrees. The phase angle is measured between the direction of the sunlight illuminating the nucleus and that of the light reflected by the nucleus and caught by Rosetta. A near-zero phase angle means that these two directions are very close to one another, which happens when the spacecraft is flying exactly between the Sun and the comet. In this configuration, Rosetta could see the sunlight hitting the nucleus at right angles, and therefore observed very little shadows on the surface. The CometWatch image was taken shortly after the closest approach on this flyby, at a phase angle of 11.7 degrees. The image shows mostly the small comet lobe and 'neck' region, with the smooth and bouldered terrains of Hapi, along the comet's neck, visible in the top right corner. A hint of the large lobe can also be seen in the top right corner. Moving towards the lower left, portions of the rough Hathor region are visible, as well as parts of Ma'at farther on the left. The linear and almost parallel features visible on the right, instead, are part of Bastet. The three-dimensional aspect of the nucleus and of its characteristic surface features is almost lost in this low phase-angle view, due to the scarcity of shadows. This is even more evident in the image captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS wide-angle camera at 00:57 UTC on 10 April, about one […]

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NASA Awards Contract for Safety Reporting Systems

NASA has awarded a contract to Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. in McLean, Virginia, for the maintenance and operation of incident reporting programs, as well as continuing research and development to improve current and future systems.

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NASA Announces Earth Day #24Seven Social Media Event

This Earth Day, April 22, NASA is inviting people around the world to share on social media what they are doing to celebrate and improve our home planet, while the space agency shares aspects of a “day in the life” of NASA’s Earth science research.

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International Hacking Challenge Comes to California for Main Event

Media are invited to attend the global main stage event for NASA’s fifth annual International Space Apps Challenge, April 22-24 at Cross Campus in Pasadena, California, with NASA Astronaut Doug Wheelock, Chief Information Officer Renee Wynn, Deputy Chief Scientist Gale Allen, and Chief Technology Officer for IT Deborah Diaz.

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NASA Featured Prominently at USA Science and Engineering Festival April 15-17

Explore outer space and our Earth with NASA at the USA Science and Engineering Festival, April 15-17 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, located at 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW in Washington. NASA scientists and engineers will be on hand at the agency’s interactive and informative exhibit, Booth #6393, Saturday and Sunday to talk all things s

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NASA to Attach, Test First Expandable Habitat on International Space Station

The first human-rated expandable structure that may help inform the design of deep space habitats is set to be installed to the International Space Station Saturday, April 16. NASA Television coverage of the installation will begin at 5:30 a.m. EDT.

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NASA Hosts Student Rocket Launch, Robotics Challenge

NASA will host almost 50 high school, college and university teams from 22 states at the its 16th annual Student Launch competition and second annual Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) Challenge, April 13-16 in Huntsville and Toney, Alabama. The events are related to real-life activities and programs on NASA’s Journey to Mars.

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NASA Cargo Headed to Space Station Includes Habitat Prototype, Medical Research

Tucked in the trunk of the latest commercial cargo spacecraft to head for the International Space Station is an expandable structure that has the potential to revolutionize work and life on the space station.

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NASA Invests in Two-Dimensional Spacecraft, Reprogrammable Microorganisms

NASA has selected 13 proposals through NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), a program that invests in transformative architectures through the development of pioneering technologies.

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CometWatch 4 April

This week Rosetta has been moving back towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko again following its far excursion in the anti-sunward direction to study the wider coma, tail and plasma environment. The spacecraft reached ~1000 km on 30 March and is now less than 100 km again. Today’s CometWatch image was taken on the inbound leg of the journey, on 4 April, from a distance of 338 km. Even at this distance, a number of the comet’s regions can be picked out: notably the flat surface of Khepry to the top right of the large lobe with Aker ‘below’ and Babi to the left in this orientation. On the small lobe, Hatmehit is in shadow to the lower right with parts of Bastet and Ma’at above and to the left. Earlier this week we also saw views from the far excursion through Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow- and wide-angle cameras, from distances of 820 km on the outward journey (above), and 442.3 km on the return journey (right), respectively. The spacecraft continues to approach the comet and over the weekend it is set to carry out a zero phase flyby at around 30 km altitude. The original NAVCAM image is provided below:

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The colour-changing comet

This story is mirrored from the ESA web portal, esa.int.  Rosetta’s comet has been seen changing colour and brightness in front of the ESA orbiter’s eyes, as the Sun’s heat strips away the older surface to reveal fresher material. Rosetta’s Visible and InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS, began to detect these changes in the sunlit parts of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko – mostly the northern hemisphere and equatorial regions – in the months immediately following the spacecraft’s arrival in August 2014. A new paper, published in the journal Icarus, reports on the early findings of this study, up to November 2014, during which time Rosetta was operating between 100 km to within 10 km of the comet nucleus. At the same time, the comet itself moved along its orbit closer to the Sun, from about 542 million km to 438 million km. VIRTIS monitored the changes in light reflected from the surface over a wide range of visible and infrared wavelengths, as an indicator of subtle changes in the composition of the comet’s outermost layer. When it arrived, Rosetta found an extremely dark body, reflecting about 6% of the visible light falling on it. This is because the majority of the surface is covered with a layer of dark, dry, dust made out of mixture of minerals and organics. Some surfaces are slightly brighter, some slightly darker, indicating differences in composition. Most of the surface is slightly reddened by organic-rich material, while the occasional ice-rich material shows up as somewhat bluer. Even when Rosetta first rendezvoused with the comet far from the Sun, ices hidden below the surface were being gently warmed, sublimating into gas, and escaping, lifting some of the surface dust away and contributing to the comet’s coma and tail. VIRTIS shows that as the ‘old’ dust layers were slowly […]

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NASA Awards Sounding Rocket Operations Contract

NASA has awarded the NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract III to Orbital ATK, Inc., in Greenbelt, Maryland, to support the agency’s Sounding Rockets Program.

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NASA Progresses Toward SpaceX Resupply Mission to Space Station

NASA provider SpaceX is scheduled to launch its eighth Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station on Friday, April 8. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

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John Grunsfeld Announces Retirement from NASA

John Grunsfeld will retire from NASA April 30, capping nearly four decades of science and exploration with the agency. His tenure includes serving as astronaut, chief scientist, and head of NASA’s Earth and space science activities.

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NASA to Host Human Exploration Rover Challenge

Media are invited to watch as almost 80 teams from the United States, Italy, Germany, India, Mexico, Columbia and Russia, as well as Puerto Rico, compete in NASA’s annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge, April 8 -9 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

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CometWatch 27 March

Last week, Rosetta embarked on an excursion around 1000 km in the anti-sunward direction to study the wider coma, tail and plasma environment of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This week's CometWatch is an image taken on the outward leg of the excursion, on 27 March, when the spacecraft was 329 km from the nucleus. In February and March, Rosetta spent several weeks at very close distances from the comet nucleus, which overfilled the field of view of the NAVCAM, providing us with striking views of the surface. During the current excursion, instead, we can enjoy again a view of the full nucleus and the environment around it. In this CometWatch image, the small comet lobe is on the left and the large one on the right. The image was taken at a very high phase angle of about 159 degrees, meaning that the comet lies between the spacecraft and the Sun, and that all three are very close to being on the same line. In this configuration, the nucleus appears backlit, with only a few portions of the illuminated surface visible from this view – in the upper and upper right part of the nucleus. Thanks to the combination of a long, four-second exposure, no attenuation filter and a low-gain setting on the analogue signal processor of NAVCAM (a setting that is used to image bright targets), the image reveals the bright environment of the comet, displaying beautiful outflows of activity streaming away from the nucleus in various directions. It is interesting to note hints of the shadow cast by the nucleus on the coma below it, as well as a number of background stars sprinkled across the image. Today, Rosetta is moving back below 600 km from the nucleus, having been at 1000 km on 30 March. The spacecraft will come […]

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NASA Awards Spacecraft Avionics Development Contract

NASA has selected The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to provide development and operations support for the avionics software suite that will guide the agency's next generation of human rated spacecraft on missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

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