NASA's Hubble Space Telescope recently captured a time lapse of Phobos, a tiny rock-like moon, orbiting around Mars. The resulting composite image of the 13 total exposures shows what appears to be a bright dot of light near Mars...it looks something like a spec of dust that reflected light back at a camera. That 'speck of dust,' though, is a great look at one of the Red Planet's two small moons.
They were close enough to have kissed. Considering Juno and Jupiter are wife and husband in the Roman pantheon, that analogy is seemingly appropriate. But if the Juno spacecraft were indeed close enough to kiss, and crash into, Jupiter, it would be like kissing one big red pimple. Juno just completed its seventh close flyby of our solar system’s biggest member and it has brought back some close up pictures of the Great Red Spot, the greatest storm we’ll ever see.
North Dakota is the chosen destination for one particular 'Mars colony' that just recently received an expansion. The region, known for its very cold and inhospitable winters, is fitted with several special pods surrounded in an inflatable and soft material. This test site is made possible thanks to both NASA funding and the University of North Dakota's rugby field where the pods are located. The site is currently being used to conduct research.
NASA has been working with agencies around the globe to develop a space defense technology that would be used to protect Earth from anticipated asteroid impacts. Though there's no expected impacts in our relatively near future, such a technology may prove vital for protecting humanity in the future, and as such work is underway now to test possible defense methods. One of these tests will be carried out by NASA , and it'll involve slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid to divert its course.
This week a NASA representative was asked whether they were running a child slave colony on Mars. That anyone would believe such a thing is just about as insane as a conspiracy theory gets. Kind of like believing there's a child slave ring being operated out of the basement of a pizza shop which literally has no basement. Much like the source of this rumor, this is all a performance - made for entertainment.
NASA plans to probe the seemingly empty space that lies between stars via its new CHESS mission, helping researchers understand the earliest parts of a star's slow formation. CHESS, in this case, is short for Colorado High-resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph, a special payload that will be sent into space on the suborbital sounding rocket called Black Brant IX. The launch will take place next week.
As we've previously reported, this year will bring a major total eclipse and many people in the United States will be able to see it. For everyone who doesn't live in the viewing path, though, or at least those who can't make the trip to see it in person, NASA has you covered. The space agency has announced big plans for livestreaming the event, enabling everyone in the world to watch it live.
A new NASA photo shows a small blue dot in the middle of a bumpy, rocky brown landscape. That landscape, the space agency says, is Mars, and the small blue dot? That's the Mars Curiosity rover as seen by NASA's own Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The photo was taken last month by the space agency's super powerful Mars telescope, which only takes photos a handful of times a year. The capturing of Curiosity, it seems, was a happy coincidence.
While there are a lot of interesting things happening in our own solar system - from Curiosity's continuing adventure on Mars to New Horizons giving us an up-close look at Pluto - NASA's Kepler space observatory has been looking into the depths of space. It's been looking for other planets that may be out there, and today, NASA has published a new mission catalog that names more than 200 new planet candidates.
NASA hopes to mark Father's Day with a colorful show of luminescent clouds, all the way above the mid-Atlantic coast. The NASA Terrier Improved Malemute mission will see a sounding rocket launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and then release several canisters of colored vapor. Dubbed "vapor tracers", they'll allow the scientists behind the project to observe how particle motions in space behave.
When you hear or read about off-planet rovers, you probably think of unmanned, somewhat smaller vehicles built for exploration and scientific missions. This concept Mars rover, in contrast, looks like something the Dark Knight himself would ride into battle. More armored car than mobile lab, this Rover Concept from NASA’s “Summer of Mars” promotion isn’t meant to actually roam the Red Planet. It serves more as a seedbed for actual rover technologies, as well as an inspiration to those visiting the Kennedy Space Center complex.
NASA opened itself up to new astronaut applications last year, and after shifting through thousands of potential candidates, the space agency has revealed the 12 individuals selected to undergo astronaut training. These people were selected from a pool of more than 18,000 people, according to NASA, which says all twelve are now among its 2017 astronaut class. Alongside the announcement, NASA as released videos introducing the whole team.
