NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley invites media to learn more about Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA), a technology that allows individual spacecraft to make independent decisions while collaborating with each other to achieve common goals – without human input. The DSA team achieved multiple firsts during tests of such swarm technology as part of [...]
2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project concluded wind tunnel testing in the fall of 2024. Tests on a Boeing-built X-66 model were completed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley in its 11-Foot Transonic Unitary Plan Facility. The model underwent tests representing expected [...]
NASA This Feb. 5, 1971, photo gives an excellent view of the Apollo 14 lunar module on the Moon’s surface after landing. At left, we can see that the astronauts – Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell – deployed the U.S. flag before taking this photo of the lunar module. Shepard and Mitchell touched down in [...]
NASA astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA) For the first time, NASA is hosting a live Twitch event from about 250 miles off the Earth aboard the International Space Station, bringing new audiences closer to space than ever before. Viewers will have the opportunity to hear from NASA astronauts live and [...]
5 Min Read Planetary Alignments and Planet Parades A sky chart showing Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus in a “planet parade.” Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech On most nights, weather permitting, you can spot at least one bright planet in the night sky. While two or three planets are commonly visible in the hours around sunset, occasionally [...]
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket system on Feb. 4, 2025. During the flight test, the capsule at the top detached from the booster and spun at approximately 11 rpm to simulate lunar gravity for the NASA-supported payloads inside.Blue Origin The old [...]
NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, released on Feb. 4, 2025, shows the gargantuan galaxy LEDA 1313424, aptly nicknamed the Bullseye. A far smaller blue dwarf galaxy went through the Bullseye’s center, leaving nine star-filled rings. Astronomers using Hubble identified eight visible rings, more than previously detected by any telescope [...]
5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Jeremy Frank, left, and Caleb Adams, right, discuss software developed by NASA’s Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy project. The software runs on spacecraft computers, currently housed on a test rack at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and depicts a spacecraft swarm virtually flying [...]
4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) This mosaic of a star field was made from three images captured Dec. 4, 2024, by star tracker cameras aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Showing part of the constellation Corvus, it’s the first imagery of space the orbiter has captured since its launch [...]
An interesting fact about Johnson Space Center’s Anika Isaac, MS, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, CEAP, NCC, is that there are more letters following her name than there are in it. A licensed professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, and chemical dependency counselor with several other certifications, Isaac has been a fixture of Johnson’s Employee Assistance Program [...]
