Videos
Perseverance beams back incredible video of landing on Mars
New video from NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover chronicles major milestones during the final minutes of its entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on the Red Planet on Feb. 18 as the spacecraft plummeted, parachuted, and rocketed toward the surface of Mars. A microphone on the rover also has provided the first audio recording of sounds …
Horgan passionate about studying Mars’ geology
Briony Horgan grew up in Portland, Oregon, where, enjoying the mountains and volcanoes that surrounded the region, she developed a love of geology. A long-standing interest in space made Horgan realize she wasn’t confined to study rocks simply on Earth. Horgan, now an associate professor of planetary science at Purdue, soon will have an opportunity …
Opportunity completes record-setting 15 year mission on Mars
The longest surviving robot ever to explore the surface of Mars – the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover – was declared dead by NASA officials on February 13, 2019, after conducting a record-setting 15 year mission on the Red Planet, when she failed to respond to a final set of “phone home” commands sent last night …
The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
A Total Solar Eclipse is a once in a lifetime event for most people and often occurs in a very specific area for just a short period of time. For the first time in a very long time the USA will experience a Total Solar Eclipse across the entire country from the West Coast to the …
SpaceX set to debut Falcon Heavy this year
After a ‘very fast fire’, a four-month hiatus, a complicated anomaly, and a general shaking of confidence, SpaceX was finally able to launch – and land – their Falcon 9 rocket once again last month. This is the first of 27 missions for 2017, a slate of launches that will not only introduce the final version of …
Nearest star has planet in habitable zone
Earth-mass world spotted in orbit around Proxima Centauri Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist …
Methane in the membrane (Producing rocket fuel on Mars)
Vocabulary • Carbon (C): Element with a mass of 12 g/mole • Hydrogen (H): Element with a mass of 1 g/mole • In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU): Taking advantage of a planet’s natural resources to supplement a space mission • Low Mars Orbit (LMO): The minimum altitude above the Martian surface necessary to maintain a stable …
Flowing water exists on surface of Mars
Today, NASA made an exciting announcement about Mars. New information out of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) confirms that sporadic salty water movement is taking place on the red planet. It had been previously speculated that dark downhill flowing streaks (known as recurring slope lineae (RSL)), occurring seasonally on the slopes of Mars, were somehow …
‘Secrets of the Universe’ film in final hours of crowdfunding campaign
“Our goal is to educate and inspire a new generation of scientists.” Those are the words of the company behind an Indiegogo campaign to produce a documentary about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to be shown at museums and science centers across the U.S. and other countries. ‘Secrets of the Universe’ will follow the world’s most brilliant scientists to the LHC …
DSCOVR sees the Earth like never before
This animation features actual satellite images of the far side of the moon, illuminated by the Sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and telescope, and the Earth – one million miles away. Credit: NASA Moon seen crossing the face of the Earth A NASA camera aboard the Deep …