September 2024

NASA’s TBIRD (TeraByte InfraRed Delivery) demonstration and its host spacecraft — the PTD-3 (Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator-3) — have completed their technology demonstration. The TBIRD payload spent the past two years breaking world records for the fastest satellite downlink from space using laser communications.

Posted September 25, 2024

HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog)

Analog Field Testing

Johnson Space Center

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

Crew Returns from Simulated Trip to Mars—Take a Peek Inside their Journey

An all-volunteer crew on a simulated trip to Mars “returned” to Earth on Sept. 23, 2024, after being isolated in a tiny habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Their work is contributing to the science that will propel humanity to the Moon and eventually Mars. The HERA missions provide valuable scientific insights into how […]

Posted September 25, 2024

White Sands Test Facility

General

Johnson Space Center

Launching Into Action: White Sands Firefighters on the Frontlines of New Mexico’s Wildfire Crisis

Ruidoso, New Mexico lay in an unusual hush on June 20, 2024. During any normal summer day, the village in the southern part of the state lives up to the Spanish translation of its name — noisy. But the bustle of this vacation hotspot, which attracts nearly 2 million visitors each year, was stifled by […]

Posted September 25, 2024

Climate Change

Earth

Earth Science

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Oceans

Sea Level Rise

NASA Analysis Shows Irreversible Sea Level Rise for Pacific Islands

Climate change is rapidly reshaping a region of the world that’s home to millions of people. In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA’s sea level change science team. This amount […]

Posted September 25, 2024

Langley Research Center

Space Technology Mission Directorate

Robotic Moving ‘Crew’ Preps for Work on Moon

As NASA moves forward with efforts to establish a long-term presence on the Moon as part of the Artemis campaign, safely moving cargo from landers to the lunar surface is a crucial capability. Whether the cargo, also known as payloads, are small scientific experiments or large technology to build infrastructure, there won’t be a crew […]

Posted September 25, 2024

Astrophysics

Galaxies

Goddard Space Flight Center

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Science & Research

Stars

The Universe

In Odd Galaxy, NASA’s Webb Finds Potential Missing Link to First Stars

Looking deep into the early universe with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have found something unprecedented: a galaxy with an odd light signature, which they attribute to its gas outshining its stars.

Posted September 25, 2024

Digital Transformation (DT)

September 2024 Transformer of the Month: Lori Arnett

Lori Arnett approaches her work at NASA with a simple motto: think big, start small, act fast. As the Associate Director for Digital Transformation for the Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities (AETC) within the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), she helps manage the capability portfolio for wind tunnels across the agency.

Posted September 25, 2024

Former Astronauts

José M. Hernández

Space Shuttle

Astronaut José Hernández Boards Discovery

In this photo from Aug. 7, 2009, Jose Hernandez, mission specialist, smiles at the camera as he waits for his turn to enter the space shuttle Discovery as part of STS-128. It was the 128th Shuttle mission and the 30th mission to the International Space Station. While at the orbital lab, the STS-128 crew conducted […]

Posted September 24, 2024

Goddard Space Flight Center

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

NASA Awards Contract Extension for Solar Science Instrument

NASA has awarded a contract extension to Stanford University, California, to continue the mission and services for the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on the agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Posted September 24, 2024

General

NASA Relaunches Art Program with Space-Themed Murals

NASA launched the next phase of its art program with two new space-themed murals in New York’s Hudson Square neighborhood in Manhattan. The vision of the reimagined NASA Art Program is to inspire and engage the Artemis Generation with community murals and other art projects for the benefit of humanity. “To continue pushing the boundaries […]

Posted September 24, 2024