NASA/Joel Kowsky A NASA photographer took this picture of a flower called Borshchov’s tulip near the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 7, 2025, ahead of NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky launching to the International Space Station. The flower is unique to Kazakhstan, attracting many [...]

5 min read Percolating Clues: NASA Models New Way to Build Planetary Cores NASA’s Perseverance rover was traveling in the channel of an ancient river, Neretva Vallis, when it captured this view of an area of scientific interest nicknamed “Bright Angel” – the light-toned area in the distance at right. The area features light-toned [...]

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Boeing’s test plane simulates digital taxiing at Moffett Field at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. NASA/Brandon Torres Navarrete New technology tested by an industry partner at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley could improve how commercial planes taxi to [...]

Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min [...]

6 min read NASA’s Dragonfly Mission Sets Sights on Titan’s Mysteries When it descends through the thick golden haze on Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft will find eerily familiar terrain. Dunes wrap around Titan’s equator. Clouds drift across its skies. Rain drizzles. Rivers flow, forming canyons, lakes and seas.  Artist’s concept of NASA’s [...]

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A team from South Dakota State University with their project, “Soil Testing and Plant Leaf Extraction Drone,” took first place at the 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Forum held May 20-21 in Palmdale, California. Advisor Todd Lechter, left, along with team members Nick [...]

5 Min Read What is Lunar Regolith? (Grades 5-8) This article is for students grades 5-8. The surface of the Moon is covered in a thick layer of boulders, rocks, and dust. This dusty, rocky layer is called lunar regolith.  It was created a long time ago when meteorites crashed into the Moon and broke [...]

6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The SWOT satellite is helping scientists size up flood waves on waterways like the Yellowstone River, pictured here in October 2024 in Montana. SWOT measures the height of surface waters, including the ocean, and hundreds of thousands of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in the [...]

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen during its “aluminum bird” systems testing at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The test verified how the aircraft’s hardware and software work together, responding to pilot inputs and handling injected system failures.Lockheed Martin/Garry Tice NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft successfully completed a critical [...]

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) How big is space? Space is really big. Thinking about our solar system, let’s imagine you could get in a car and drive to Pluto at highway speeds. It would take you about 6,000 years to get there. When we start to think about [...]