Have a blast exploring the universe at a FREE open house event at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Explore@NASA Goddard, on Saturday, May 14, from 11am to 5pm rain or shine, is full of family fun, music, food, and science. Free satellite parking and transportation to Goddard… Read more“xplore@NASA Goddard: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. FREE!”
NASA’s Fermi Spots ‘Superflares’ in the Crab Nebula
WASHINGTON — The famous Crab Nebula supernova remnant has erupted in an enormous flare five times more powerful than any flare previously seen from the object. On April 12, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope first detected the outburst, which lasted six days. The nebula is the wreckage of an exploded… Read more“NASA’s Fermi Spots ‘Superflares’ in the Crab Nebula”
Galileo Data Reveal Magma Ocean Under Jupiter Moon
PASADENA, Calif. — New data analysis from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft reveals a subsurface ocean of molten or partially molten magma beneath the surface of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io. The finding heralds the first direct confirmation of this kind of magma layer at Io and explains why the moon is the… Read more“Galileo Data Reveal Magma Ocean Under Jupiter Moon”
Mars Tribute Marks Memories of Shepard’s Flight
The team exploring Mars via NASA’s Opportunity rover for the past seven years has informally named a Martian crater for the Mercury spacecraft that astronaut Alan Shepard christened Freedom 7. On May 5, 1961, Shepard piloted Freedom 7 in America’s first human spaceflight. The team is using Opportunity this week… Read more“Mars Tribute Marks Memories of Shepard’s Flight”
NASA’s Gravity Probe B Confirms Two Einstein Space-Time Theories
NASA’s Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission has confirmed two key predictions derived from Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which the spacecraft was designed to test. The experiment, launched in 2004, used four ultra-precise gyroscopes to measure the hypothesized geodetic effect, the warping of space and time around a gravitational… Read more“NASA’s Gravity Probe B Confirms Two Einstein Space-Time Theories”
STS-134 Launch Scrubbed; Progress Docks to Station
Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach stated that Endeavour’s launch will be no earlier than Monday at 2:33 p.m. EDT. Engineers need that time to troubleshoot an issue that resulted in today’s launch scrub. During today’s countdown, engineers detected a failure in one of two heater circuits associated with Auxiliary Power… Read more“STS-134 Launch Scrubbed; Progress Docks to Station”
NASA Technology Looks Inside Japan’s Nuclear Reactor
Design techniques honed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for Mars rovers were used to create the rover currently examining the inside of Japan’s nuclear reactors, in areas not yet deemed safe for human crews. The iRobot PackBot employs technologies used previously in the design of “Rocky-7,”… Read more“NASA Technology Looks Inside Japan’s Nuclear Reactor”