Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The video, featuring a cat named Taters, was sent back from nearly 19 million miles away by NASA’s laser communications demonstration, marking a historic milestone. NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video on Dec.

Posted December 18, 2023

NEOWISE

Comets

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)

NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)

Planetary Defense

Planetary Defense Coordination Office

WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)

NASA’s NEOWISE Celebrates 10 Years, Plans End of Mission

The asteroid and comet-hunting infrared space telescope has gathered an impressive haul of observations, but it’s now at the mercy of the Sun, which is accelerating its demise. NASA’s NEOWISE has had a busy decade. Since its reactivated mission began on Dec.

Posted December 13, 2023

Perseverance (Rover)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Mars

Mars 2020

The Solar System

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake

Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way. Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the ancient river delta that holds evidence of a lake that filled Jezero Crater billions of […]

Posted December 12, 2023

EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation)

Dust Storms

Earth

Earth Science Division

International Space Station (ISS)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Sensor Produces First Global Maps of Surface Minerals in Arid Regions

EMIT delivers first-of-a-kind maps of minerals in Earth’s dust-source areas, enabling scientists to model the fine particles’ role in climate change and more.

Posted December 11, 2023

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Students Create Elaborate Homemade Machines for JPL Competition

To compete in a race against the clock and each other, 18 student teams built complicated contraptions for the annual Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Some 250 students hauled homemade machines they’d spent weeks honing to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Friday, Dec.

Posted December 9, 2023

Airborne Science

Ames Research Center

Animal Biology

Earth

Earth System Observatory (ESO)

Ecostress (ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station)

EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation)

International Space Station (ISS)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Plant Biology

NASA Helps Study One of the World’s Most Diverse Ecosystems

NASA satellite and airborne tools aid an international team studying biodiversity on land and in the water around South Africa. An international team of researchers spent October and November 2023 in the field studying one of the world’s most biologically diverse areas – South Africa’s Greater Cape Floristic Region.

Posted December 8, 2023

Psyche Mission

Asteroids

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Psyche Asteroid

The Solar System

NASA’s Psyche Delivers First Images and Other Data

The mission team has celebrated several successes since its launch from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 13. The latest is the operation of the spacecraft’s cameras. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on […]

Posted December 5, 2023

EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation)

Dust Storms

Earth

Earth Science Division

Greenhouse Gases

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Mission Excels at Spotting Greenhouse Gas Emission Sources

Since launching 16 months ago, the EMIT imaging spectrometer aboard the International Space Station has shown an ability to detect more than just surface minerals.

Posted November 17, 2023

Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL)

Biological & Physical Sciences

Fundamental Physics

International Space Station (ISS)

ISS Research

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Physical Sciences

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab Sets Stage for Quantum Chemistry in Space

The remotely operated facility aboard the International Space Station has created another tool that researchers can use to probe the fundamental nature of the world around us. For the first time in space, scientists have produced a quantum gas containing two types of atoms.

Posted November 15, 2023

Kepler / K2

Exoplanet Science

Exoplanets

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Neptune-Like Exoplanets

Super-Earth Exoplanets

NASA Data Reveals Possible Reason Some Exoplanets Are Shrinking

A new study could explain the ‘missing’ exoplanets between super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. Some exoplanets seem to be losing their atmospheres and shrinking. In a new study using NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers find evidence of a possible cause: The cores of these planets are pushing away their atmospheres from the inside out.

Posted November 15, 2023