Category: Information and Update

How many stars like our sun host planets like our Earth? NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope continuously monitored more than 150,000 stars beyond our solar system, and to date has offered scientists an assortment of more than 4,000 candidate planets for further study — the 1,000th of which was recently verified…. Read more“NASA’s Kepler Marks 1,000th Exoplanet Discovery, Uncovers More Small Worlds in Habitable Zones”

Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti answer questions posed by CBS and BBC reporters on Dec. 30, 2014. As the crew of the International Space Station prepares to ring in the new year with a fruit juice toast, NASA today released a pre-recorded  New Year’s greeting from… Read more“Crew Shares New Year’s Wishes, Research Continues”

The six International Space Station crew members will enjoy a somewhat traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with a few tweaks. Their menu will include traditional holiday fare with a space-food flair — irradiated smoked turkey, thermostabilized candied yams and freeze-dried green beans and mushrooms. The meal also will feature NASA’s own freeze-dried… Read more“High-flying Turkey on Station Thanksgiving Menu”

As the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday approaches this Thursday, November 27, NOAA’s GOES-East and GOES-West satellites are keeping a weather eye out for storms that may affect early travelers. In an image from Nov. 25, the satellites show an active weather pattern is in place for travelers across the central and… Read more“Satellite Views Thanksgiving Travel Trouble Areas”

Second Time Through, Mars Rover Examines Chosen Rocks This small ridge, about 3 feet long, appears to resist wind erosion more than the flatter plates around it. Such differences are among the traits NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is examining at selected rock targets at the base of Mount Sharp. Curiosity’s… Read more“Second Time Through, Mars Rover Examines Chosen Rocks”

November 20, 2014 MISSE 2 outside the Quest Airlock on the International Space Station. The Polymer Erosion and Contamination Experiment (PEACE) experiment is outlined in red. Image Credit: NASA MISSE 2 PEACE Polymers experiment: a.) before flight, and b.) after four years of space exposure on the exterior of the… Read more“Time in Space Exposes Materials to the Test of Time”

November 20, 2014 Over the past decade, NASA’s Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer has proven itself to be one of the most versatile astrophysics missions ever flown. It remains the only satellite capable of precisely locating gamma-ray bursts — the universe’s most powerful explosions — and monitoring them across a broad… Read more“NASA’s Swift: 10 Years of Game-changing Astrophysics”