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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