Blog

Deep Space Network
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA History
Space Communications & Navigation Program
Editor’s Note: Text regarding the name of JPL’s first ground stations was updated on Dec. 27, 2023. The agency’s DSN provides critical communications and navigation services to dozens of space missions, and it’s being modernized to support dozens more. NASA’s Deep Space Network marks its 60th year on Dec. 24.
Posted December 22, 2023
BARREL (Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses)
Scientific Balloons
In this image from Dec. 8, 2017, four reindeer walk past the Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses, or BARREL, payload on the launch pad at Esrange Space Center near Kiruna, Sweden. BARREL primarily measured X-rays in Earth’s atmosphere near the North and South Poles. These X-rays are caused by electrons that rain down, […]
Posted December 22, 2023
General
Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
As space missions and technologies grow increasingly interconnected, NASA has released the first iteration of its Space Security Best Practices Guide to bolster mission cybersecurity efforts for both public sector and private sector space activities.
Posted December 22, 2023
Astrophysics
Goddard Space Flight Center
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Missions
Science & Research
Nearly two years ago in the early morning hours of Dec. 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope successfully took flight from the jungle-encircled ELA-3 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana.
Posted December 22, 2023
The Universe
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Exoplanet Science
Galaxies
Herschel Space Observatory
Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Nebulae
SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) / 747-SP
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe and Ices Explorer)
Spitzer Space Telescope
Stars
WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)
The Webb telescope has opened a new window onto the universe, but it builds on missions going back 40 years, including Spitzer and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. On Dec. 25, NASA will celebrate the two-year launch anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope – the largest and most powerful space observatory in history. The clarity […]
Posted December 22, 2023
OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer)
Asteroids
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Solar System
The former OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sets off on a journey to study asteroid Apophis and take advantage of the asteroid’s 2029 flyby of Earth, the likes of which hasn’t happened since the dawn of recorded history.
Posted December 22, 2023
NASA History
Apollo 8
Frank Borman
Humans in Space
On Christmas Day in 1968, the three-man Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders found a surprise in their food locker: a specially packed Christmas dinner wrapped in foil and decorated with red and green ribbons. Something as simple as a “home-cooked meal,” or as close as NASA could get for […]
Posted December 22, 2023
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Galaxies
Goddard Space Flight Center
Hubble Space Telescope
Missions
Science Mission Directorate
The Universe
This whirling image features a bright spiral galaxy known as MCG-01-24-014, which is located about 275 million light-years from Earth. In addition to being a well-defined spiral galaxy, MCG-01-24-014 has an extremely energetic core known as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and is categorized as a Type-2 Seyfert galaxy.
Posted December 22, 2023
Aeronautics
Advanced Air Mobility
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
Drones & You
Langley Research Center
Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia recently flew multiple drones beyond visual line of sight with no visual observer. The drones successfully flew around obstacles and each other during takeoff, along a planned route, and upon landing, all autonomously without a pilot controlling the flight.
Posted December 22, 2023
Human Landing System Program
Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Doug “Wheels” Wheelock participated in a recent test of a sub-scale mockup elevator for SpaceX’s Starship human landing system that will be used for NASA’s Artemis III and IV missions to the Moon. The Starship human landing system will carry two astronauts from the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit to […]
Posted December 21, 2023
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