December 2024

Asteroids
Ames Research Center
Ames Research Center's Science Directorate
General
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Missions
NASA Centers & Facilities
The Solar System
NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope includes asteroids on its list of objects studied and secrets revealed.  A team led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge repurposed Webb’s observations of a distant star to reveal a population of small asteroids — smaller than astronomers had ever detected orbiting
Posted December 20, 2024
Dawn
Asteroids
Ceres
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Vesta
Known as flow formations, these channels could be etched on bodies that would seem inhospitable to liquid because they are exposed to the extreme vacuum conditions of space. Pocked with craters, the surfaces of many celestial bodies in our solar system provide clear evidence of a 4.6-billion-year battering by meteoroids and other space debris.
Posted December 20, 2024
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars
Instead of a winter wonderland, the Red Planet’s northern hemisphere goes through an active — even explosive — spring thaw. While New Year’s Eve is around the corner here on Earth, Mars scientists are ahead of the game: The Red Planet completed a trip around the Sun on Nov. 12, 2024, prompting a few researchers […]
Posted December 20, 2024
Aeronautics
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
Armstrong Flight Research Center
Commercial Supersonic Technology
Integrated Aviation Systems Program
Low Boom Flight Demonstrator
Quesst (X-59)
Supersonic Flight
NASA completed the first maximum afterburner engine run test on its X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft on Dec. 12. The ground test, conducted at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, marks a significant milestone as the X-59 team progresses toward flight.
Posted December 20, 2024
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)
Artemis
Marshall Space Flight Center
The Moon may look like barren rock, but it’s actually covered in a layer of gravel, pebbles, and dust collectively known as “lunar regolith.” During the Apollo Moon missions, astronauts learned firsthand that the fine, powdery dust – electromagnetically charged due to constant bombardment by solar and cosmic particles – is extremely abrasive and cl
Posted December 20, 2024
Johnson Space Center
General
 “Trying to do stellar observations from Earth is like trying to do birdwatching from the bottom of a lake.” James B. Odom, Hubble Program Manager 1983-1990. The third servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, placed in orbit in 1990, occurred during the STS-103 mission in December 1999. During the mission, originally planned for June […]
Posted December 20, 2024
Astrobiology
NASA-supported scientists have shown how ferns might help ecosystems recover from disasters.
Posted December 20, 2024
Glenn Research Center
Advanced Air Transport Technology
Aeronautics
Flight Innovation
STEM Engagement at NASA
High school students in Indiana are contributing to NASA’s groundbreaking research to develop quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft engines. Their learning experience is a collaboration between aircraft noise researchers from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and educators from the University of Notre Dame’s Turbomachinery Laboratory.
Posted December 20, 2024
Aeronautics
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
Air Traffic Management - Exploration
Air Traffic Solutions
Airspace Operations and Safety Program
Ames Research Center
Green Aviation Tech
Sustainable Flight National Partnership
It’s the holiday season — which means many are taking to the skies to join their loved ones. If you’ve ever used an app to navigate on a road trip, you’ve probably noticed how it finds you the most efficient route to your destination, even before you depart. To that end, NASA has been working […]
Posted December 20, 2024
Earth planning date: Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 It’s almost holiday time, and preparations are going ahead on Earth and Mars! For myself that means having a packed suitcase sitting behind me to go on my holiday travels tomorrow morning. For Curiosity that means looking forward to a long semi-rest, as we will not do our […]
Posted December 20, 2024
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