Tag: NASA
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There’s no place like home: New image shows Earth and moon from Mars orbiter
The Earth and moon as seen from Mars. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Photo) There’s a lot of talk in our modern space race about getting to Mars, so every once in a while it’s nice to see what we’d be leaving behind if we did eventually make it to the Red Planet. Thankfully, images from the High Resolution…
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Asteroid fans get psyched up over NASA’s new Psyche and Lucy space missions
Artist’s conceptions show the Lucy probe visiting a rocky asteroid at left, and the Psyche probe visiting a metallic asteroid at right. (NASA Illustrations) Today is a great day for asteroid miners: NASA announced that it will provide full funding under its Discovery Program for two missions focusing on different types of asteroids. A mission…
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NASA picks IXPE: Space telescope will study X-ray fingerprints of black holes
An artist’s conception shows the accretion disk around an active black hole. (NASA Illustration) NASA is committing $188 million to build and launch a space telescope to observe patterns in the X-ray radiation emanating from black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, or IXPE, was chosen from a field of three…
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Boeing and SpaceX win four more NASA orders for space taxis, with one big ‘if’
An artist’s conception shows a straight-on view of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi. (Boeing / NASA Photo) NASA has awarded four more contracts to Boeing and to SpaceX for space taxi trips to and from the International Space Station – dependent on certification that the spacecraft are safe. SpaceX is working on a crew-capable version of its…
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Mannequin Challenge jumps the shark in zero-G, courtesy of space station crew
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky stays immobile as he floats in a Superman pose for an out-of-this-world Mannequin Challenge. (ESA via Twitter / Thomas Pesquet) Standing still for a Mannequin Challenge video is a faddish feat, but floating still in zero-G raises the degree of difficulty to the level of a true challenge. And the crew…
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NASA’s Curiosity rover fleshes out geological picture of Mars’ past habitability
This schematic illustrates how the creation and disappearance of a Martian lake created different layers of rock in the region being explored by NASA’s Curiosity rover. (NASA / JPL Graphic) Scientists say they’re putting together the puzzle pieces provided by NASA’s Curiosity rover to get a better picture of how the outlook for habitability on…
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NASA confirms delay in commercial crew flights to 2018, pushing the envelope
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s crew-capable Dragon approaching a port on the International Space Station with a cargo Dragon in the foreground. (NASA Photo) NASA has confirmed that the commercial space taxis being developed by SpaceX and the Boeing Co. will start carrying astronauts to the International Space Station no earlier than 2018, and there’s…
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NASA brings an out-of-this-world assortment of GIFs and images to GIPHY and Pinterest
What’s better than watching astronauts eat in space? (NASA via GIPHY) In space, no one can hear you scream. But on Earth, they can hear you laugh, or say, “Whoa.” Which is what you should be doing if you take time to check out NASA’s new GIPHY page and Pinterest feed. Lovers of GIFs should…
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Astronaut-senator John Glenn, first (and oldest) American in orbit, dies at age of 95
John Glenn orbited the planet in 1962 and flew on the space shuttle in 1998. (NASA Photo) Godspeed, John Glenn. The first American to go into orbit, and the first astronaut to become a senator and presidential candidate, died today in Ohio at the age of 95. The Columbus Dispatch reported that Glenn was surrounded…
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NASA unveils a skill for Amazon’s Alexa that lets you ask questions about Mars
Tom Soderstrom, IT CTO of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab announces NASA Mars at AWS re:invent Amazon’s Alexa has gained many skills over the past year, such as being able to read tweets or deliver election results and fantasy football scores. Starting on Wednesday, you’ll be able to ask Alexa about Mars. The new skill for…