Blog

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

NASA’s Ames Research Center Celebrates 85 Years of Innovation

Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley pre-dates a lot of things. The center existed before NASA – the very space and aeronautics agency it’s a critical part of today. And of all the marvelous advancements in science and technology that have fundamentally changed our lives over the last 85 years since its founding, one aspect […]

Posted December 20, 2024

Solar Eclipses

Terra

NASA’s Terra Satellite Captures 2015 Eclipse Shadow

During the morning of March 20, 2015, a total solar eclipse was visible from parts of Europe, and a partial solar eclipse from northern Africa and northern Asia. NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the Arctic Ocean on March 20 at 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. EDT) and captured the eclipse’s shadow over the clouds in the […]

Posted December 20, 2024

Johnson Space Center

Astronauts

Humans in Space

International Space Station (ISS)

ISS Research

Missions

NASA Centers & Facilities

Station Science Top News: Dec. 20, 2024

A method for evaluating thermophysical properties of metal alloys Simulation of the solidification of metal alloys, a key step in certain industrial processes, requires reliable data on their thermophysical properties such as surface tension and viscosity.

Posted December 20, 2024

Armstrong Flight Research Center

Advanced Air Mobility

Aeronautics

C-20A

DC-8

Earth Science

ER-2

Flight Opportunities Program

Quesst (X-59)

Sustainable Flight Demonstrator

2024: NASA Armstrong Prepares for Future Innovative Research Efforts

NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is preparing today for tomorrow’s mission. Supersonic flight, next generation aircraft, advanced air mobility, climate changes, human exploration of space, and the next innovation are just some of the topics our researchers, engineers, and mission support teams focused on in 2024.

Posted December 20, 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 Webb Reveals Smallest Asteroids Yet Found in Main Asteroid Belt

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

Lab Work Digs Into Gullies Seen on Giant Asteroid Vesta by NASA’s Dawn

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

Avalanches, Icy Explosions, and Dunes: NASA Is Tracking New Year on 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 Runs X-59 Engine with Maximum Afterburner for First Time

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

NASA Science Payload to Study Sticky Lunar Dust Challenge

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

25 Years Ago: STS-103, The Hubble Servicing Mission-3A

“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