Earth
Cassini images Earth beneath Saturn’s rings
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured color images of Earth and the moon from its perch in the Saturn system nearly 900 million miles (1.5 billion kilometers) away on July 19. Meanwhile, MESSENGER, the first probe to orbit Mercury, took a black-and-white image from a distance of 61 million miles (98 million kilometers) as part of a …
Antares delivers Cygnus to ISS
The new ‘Commercial Space Era’ received a resounding boost today when a privately developed Antares rocket lofting the first ever Cygnus commercial cargo resupply craft thundered to space from America’s newest launch pad at NASA Wallops along the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The history making launch marks the first time that a spacecraft launched from …
Masten’s Xombie rocket tests new precision landing software
A year after NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity’s landed on Mars, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are testing a sophisticated flight-control algorithm that could allow for even more precise, pinpoint landings of future Martian spacecraft. Flight testing of the new Fuel Optimal Large Divert Guidance (G-FOLD) algorithm for planetary pinpoint landing is being …
Importance of exercise while in orbit
Human space flight is a physically demanding experience. It poses numerous risks, many of them are very evident, but some are hidden to the naked eye. The most important hidden health challenge is the bone density changes that are brought on by prolonged weightlessness. These bone density changes in the hip and back are very …
Soot likely played a role in 1800s glacier retreat
A NASA-led team of scientists has uncovered strong evidence that soot from a rapidly industrializing Europe caused the abrupt retreat of mountain glaciers in the European Alps that began in the 1860s, a period often thought of as the end of the Little Ice Age. The research last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy …
La Nada climate pattern lingers
New remote sensing data from NASA’s Jason-2 satellite show near-normal sea-surface height conditions across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This neutral, or “La Nada” event, has stubbornly persisted for 16 months, since spring 2012. Models suggest this pattern will continue through the spring of 2014, according to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center. “Without an …
FINDER keepers: Technology developed for outer space is saving lives on Earth
The Department of Homeland Security and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed a new radar-based technology dubbed “Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response” (FINDER), to aid in detecting victims buried in rubble. FINDER is based on the technology NASA’s Deep Space Network uses to monitor the movements and location of its spacecraft millions of miles …
Landing of Expedition 36
Expedition 36 Soyuz landing – The Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft with Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin and Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy (sitting far left) landed in a remote area of Kazakhstan on Sept. 11. They returned to Earth after five and a half months serving aboard the International Space Station. This article appeared …
Launch of Expedition 37 to ISS
Expedition 37 launch – The Soyuz TMA-10M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 26, carrying Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins (left, middle) and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Ryazansky to the ISS. Their Soyuz rocket launched at 2:58 a.m. local time. This article appeared in the 3rd issue of …
From zero to orbital velocity: Dragon delivers to ISS
I had an eagle-eye view as the Falcon 9 rose up from its launchpad, with Dragon leading the way through the cloud covered sky. It’s sound punched through the wind, letting out a low intense rumble as it headed for orbit, getting louder and louder with each second that passed. As the rocket rose higher, its sound started to fade, until it completely disappeared. The Falcon 9 had performed its job – and it was time for Dragon to commence its part of the mission. Soon it would meet up with the ISS for the delivery of supplies and experiments to the crew.