NASA gets down to Earth this year with globe-spanning expeditions
Washington, Mar 23 (IBNS) NASA is sending scientists around the world in 2016 – from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet to the coral reefs of the South Pacific – to delve into challenging questions about how our planet is changing and what impacts humans are having on it.
NASA sends fire, meteor experiments to International Space Station on Commercial Cargo Spacecraft
Washington, Mar 23 (IBNS) Scientific investigations of fire in microgravity and grippers inspired by geckos are among the nearly 7,500 pounds of cargo headed to the International Space Station aboard an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft, along with equipment to support some 250 other experiments and studies aboard the world’s only orbital laboratory.
NASA study finds climate change shifting wine grape harvests in France ,Switzerland
Washington, Mar 21 (IBNS) A new study from NASA and Harvard University finds that climate change is diminishing an important link between droughts and the timing of wine grape harvests in France and Switzerland.
Launch, docking returns International Space Station crew to full strength
Washington, Mar 20 (IBNS) NASA astronaut Jeff Williams is now the first American to become a three-time, long-term resident of the International Space Station.
Science papers reveal new aspects of Pluto and its Moons
Washington, Mar 18 (IBNS): A year ago, Pluto was just a bright speck in the cameras of NASA’s approaching New Horizons spacecraft, not much different than its appearances in telescopes since Clyde Tombaugh discovered the then-ninth planet in 1930.
NASA selects proposals to build better solar technologies for Deep Space Missions
Washington, Mar 15 (Just Earth News/IBNS): NASA’s Game Changing Development (GCD) program has selected four proposals to develop solar array technologies that will aid spacecraft in exploring destinations well beyond low-Earth orbit, including Mars.
NASA selects scientists for Mars Rover research projects
Washington, Mar 12 (IBNS) NASA has selected 28 researchers as participating scientists for the Curiosity Mars rover mission, including six newcomers to the rover's science team.
Washington DC, Mar 12 (IBNS) Far in the western hemisphere, scientists on NASA’s New Horizons mission have discovered what looks like a giant “bite mark†on Pluto’s surface. They suspect it may be caused by a process known as sublimation—the transition of a substance from a solid to a gas. The methane ice-rich surface on Pluto may be sublimating away into the atmosphere, exposing a layer of water-ice underneath.
NASA Selects Instruments to Study Air Pollution, Tropical Cyclones
Washington, Mar 11 (Just Earth News/IBNS) NASA has selected two proposals for new Earth science investigations that will put new instruments in low-Earth orbit to track harmful particulate air pollutants and study the development of tropical cyclones.
NASA Station leads way for improved measurements of Earth Orientation, shape
Washington, Mar 11 (Just Earth News/IBNS) NASA has demonstrated the success of advanced technology for making precise measurements of Earth’s orientation and rotation – information that helps provide a foundation for navigation of all space missions and for geophysical studies of our planet.
Solar eclipse over South Pacific Ocean
California, Mar 10 (IBNS) During the afternoon of March 9, 2016, a total solar eclipse was visible in parts of southeast Asia and a partial eclipse was visible in parts of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and America Samoa.
NASA targets May 2018 launch of Mars InSight Mission
California, Mar 10 (Just Earth News/IBNS) NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to study the deep interior of Mars is targeting a new launch window that begins May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018.
NASA tests inflatable heat shield technology for deep space missions
New york, Mar 9 (IBNS) Before NASA uses its new inflatable technology for slowing spacecraft that are entering the atmospheres of other planets, it will first need to be packed into the tight confines of a rocket.
NASA recognizes outstanding small businesses with industry awards
New York, Mar 9 (IBNS) The winners of the Fiscal Year 2015 agency-level Small Business Industry Awards (SBIA) were announced Tuesday during the spring 2016 NASA Industry Forum meeting hosted by the agency’s Office of Small Business Programs at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Citizen scientists help NASA researchers understand Auroras
California, Mar 8 (IBNS) Space weather scientist Liz MacDonald has seen auroras more than five times in her life, but it was the aurora she didn’t see that affected her the most.