NASA Goddard Space Flight Center News - SciTechDaily

ICON’s Legacy: Transforming Our Understanding of the Ionosphere

Desiree Apodaca, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 06:46:33 +0000

NASA’s ICON mission enhanced our understanding of the ionosphere’s impact on technology by studying its interactions with Earth and space weather, setting the stage for ongoing scientific exploration. NASA’s ICON mission studied the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere called the ionosphere. ICON provided critical insights into interplay between space weather and Earth’s weather. The mission [...]

NASA’s Aura at 20: The Legacy of Earth’s Silent Guardian

Erica McNamee and Kate Ramsayer, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 16:17:16 +0000

NASA’s Aura satellite has provided critical data over two decades, transforming our understanding of the atmosphere. It has tracked the effects of industrialization, environmental policies, and natural events on air quality globally, and has been pivotal in studies from ozone recovery to pollution tracking. Aura’s Atmospheric Impact From monitoring the ozone hole above the Antarctic [...]

NASA Engineers Craft Lifesaving Repair Kit for Space Station’s NICER Telescope

Jeanette Kazmierczak, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:15:21 +0000

NASA is set to repair the NICER telescope on the ISS with a specially designed patch kit during a spacewalk. The telescope, crucial for studying neutron stars and X-ray phenomena, was damaged in May 2023, leading to a rapid design and testing of a solution. The upcoming mission will make NICER the first X-ray telescope [...]

A Flash Like No Other: NASA’s Fermi Detects Unique Energy Peak in Unprecedented Gamma-Ray Burst

Francis Reddy, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 10:13:20 +0000

Utilizing data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, researchers discovered a unique energy peak in the aftermath of the brightest Gamma-Ray burst ever seen, suggesting the annihilation of electrons and positrons. This finding provides new insights into the behavior of cosmic jets and the extreme conditions following such bursts. In October 2022, astronomers were stunned [...]

Can NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Unlock the Secrets of Dark Matter?

Claire Blome, Space Telescope Science Institute — Sat, 27 Jul 2024 05:28:58 +0000

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will use high-resolution imaging to study dark matter by analyzing star streams in the Andromeda galaxy, providing new insights into the cosmic role and properties of dark matter. Some of the finest, smallest details in the universe – the gaps between elongated groups of stars – may soon help astronomers reveal [...]

NASA Experiment Reveals: Life Signs Could Survive Near Surfaces of Enceladus and Europa

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 19:16:16 +0000

NASA researchers have found that amino acids, potential indicators of life, could survive near the surface of Europa and Enceladus, moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively. Experiments indicate that these organic molecules can withstand radiation just under the ice, making them accessible to future robotic landers without deep drilling. Exploring Life Potential on Icy Moons [...]

NASA’s CURIE Mission To Unravel the Sun’s Cryptic Radio Riddles

Mara Johnson-Groh, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:54:35 +0000

NASA’s CURIE mission will explore the origins of solar radio waves using a unique space-based radio interferometry method. By flying two CubeSats that will orbit Earth and gather radio data, this NASA mission aims to identify the precise source of emissions linked to solar flares and coronal mass ejections. NASA’s CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment, or [...]

Cosmic Penguin Party: Webb Celebrates Two Years with a Spectacular View of Interacting Galaxies

Space Telescope Science Institute — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 10:41:37 +0000

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows off a pair of intertwined galaxies in infrared light, its latest release in an ongoing run of observations. The James Webb Space Telescope operates around the clock, frequently astonishing researchers with its highly detailed — and incredibly precise — infrared images and data. These wavelengths of light, which lie [...]

$5 Billion on the Line: Will NASA’s Europa Clipper Survive Jupiter’s Extreme Radiation?

NASA — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 07:54:15 +0000

NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is focused on solving transistor radiation issues as it prepares for launch on an expedition to Jupiter to explore Europa’s habitability. The mission faces challenges with radiation-resistant transistors, discovered to be less durable against Jupiter’s intense radiation. Tests at various NASA centers aim to address these issues. Preparations for the launch [...]

Asteroid Sample Surprise: Bennu Holds the Solar System’s “Original Ingredients”

Mikayla Mace Kelley, University of Arizona — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 17:02:22 +0000

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned a sample from asteroid Bennu, revealing it contains key solar system materials and possible signs of a watery past. This discovery provides valuable insights into the early solar system’s conditions and the potential origins of life. A deep dive into the sample of rocks and dust returned from near-Earth asteroid Bennu [...]

Surprising Findings in NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample: Could They Unlock the Origins of Life?

Mikayla Mace Kelley, University of Arizona — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 12:36:58 +0000

Analysis of a sample from asteroid Bennu found essential life components and hints of a watery past, offering insights into solar system origins and prebiotic chemistry. Early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for [...]

Webb Space Telescope Rewrites the Origin Story of the Crab Nebula’s Supernova

Space Telescope Science Institute — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 18:35:51 +0000

New data revises our view of this unusual supernova explosion. The Crab Nebula is a nearby example of the debris left behind when a star undergoes a violent death in a supernova explosion. However, despite decades of study, this supernova remnant continues to maintain a degree of mystery: What type of star was responsible for [...]

NASA Unveils Game-Changing Augmented Reality in Spacecraft Engineering

Karl B. Hille, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Mon, 01 Jul 2024 00:41:59 +0000

At NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, augmented reality technology and robotics are revolutionizing the assembly of the Roman Space Telescope by enhancing precision and efficiency, leading to significant time and cost savings during construction. Augmented reality tools have helped technicians improve accuracy and save time on fit checks for the Roman Space Telescope being assembled [...]

Webb and Hubble Unite: A Breathtaking 3D Journey Through the Pillars of Creation

Space Telescope Science Institute — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 02:31:33 +0000

NASA’s new 3D visualization of the “Pillars of Creation” combines data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes to provide an immersive experience into these iconic star-birthing clouds. The breathtaking new visualization enables viewers to explore fundamental questions in science, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves. A team from [...]

Surprising Cosmic Alignment Unveiled: Webb Telescope Reveals Stunning Stellar Jets in Serpens Nebula

Space Telescope Science Institute — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 01:26:22 +0000

Alignment of Bipolar Jets Confirms Star Formation Theories Some of the greatest, and most interesting, astronomical discoveries have come as a surprise to researchers, even when examining the most well-studied areas of the sky. Often, it’s new technology or chance timing that result in these discoveries. In a new study of the Serpens Nebula with [...]

Stellar Sleuths: Citizen Scientists and AI Uncover Hidden Asteroids With Hubble

Space Telescope Science Institute — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 20:25:18 +0000

Deep-Sky Exposure Yields Telltale Evidence for Asteroid Moving Across the Celestial Background Over 4 billion years ago, the eight major planets around our Sun formed by sweeping up debris from a vast disk of dust and gas surrounding the Sun. This is common to the planet birthing process, and the Hubble Space Telescope was the [...]

Echoes of Creation: The Roman Telescope’s Quest for Primordial Black Holes

Ashley Balzer, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 20:21:16 +0000

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope might reveal previously undetected “featherweight” black holes with masses similar to Earth’s. These primordial black holes, formed in the early universe, could significantly impact our understanding of astronomy and particle physics, potentially explaining some of the dark matter in the universe. Astronomers have discovered black holes ranging from a [...]

Webb Explores Cosmic Dawn: Witnessing the First Galaxies Feeding on Cold Gas

Space Telescope Science Institute — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 07:24:11 +0000

Only the James Webb Space Telescope can detect and investigate these galaxies, which were forming within dense, opaque gas when the universe was only a few hundred million years old. A team in Denmark examining archival data from the James Webb Space Telescope recently found a trio of distant galaxies that were in the process [...]

Stellar Fireworks: Hubble Revisits a Strange Star’s 40-Year Nova Mystery

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 03:04:30 +0000

Hubble Telescope Revisits a Star System That is Still Extraordinarily Hot If we could gaze down upon the magnificent spiral structure of our Milky Way galaxy from far above, and compress millions of years into seconds, we would see brief bursts of light, like the flashes from cameras popping off at a stadium event. These [...]

Webb Is a Supernova Discovery Machine: 10x More Supernovae in Early Universe

Space Telescope Science Institute — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:36:50 +0000

Webb finds 10 times more supernovae in the early universe than known before. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is proving to excel as a supernova hunter! Thanks to its extreme infrared sensitivity, Webb is discovering far-off supernovae almost everywhere it looks. Webb is ideal for identifying extremely distant supernovae because of a phenomenon called cosmological [...]

Record-Breaking Galactic Discovery: Webb Space Telescope’s Glimpse of Cosmic Dawn

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 05:21:21 +0000

NASA’s James Webb Telescope discovers a distant galaxy at redshift 14.32, suggesting unexpectedly rapid galaxy formation just 290 million years after the Big Bang. Over the past two years, scientists have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (also called Webb or JWST) to explore what astronomers refer to as Cosmic Dawn – the period in [...]

Innovative Engineering Shields NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX During Close Encounter With the Sun

Lonnie Shekhtman, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Fri, 31 May 2024 05:19:40 +0000

OSIRIS-APEX, a NASA spacecraft, successfully navigated its closest approach to the Sun, exceeding design expectations and demonstrating robust engineering by protecting its sensitive components. Innovative techniques like repositioning solar arrays for protection allowed it to emerge unscathed, with subsequent tests revealing unexpected improvements in onboard instruments like cameras and spectrometers. However, engineers remain cautious as [...]

How TESS’s Newest Discovery Could Change Our Search for Alien Worlds

Francis Reddy, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Wed, 29 May 2024 21:14:20 +0000

Astronomers using NASA’s TESS and other facilities have discovered a planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus, only 40 light-years away, named Gliese 12 b. Ideal for further study due to its proximity and characteristics, this “exo-Venus” orbits a red dwarf star and may help reveal insights into planetary evolution and habitability. Two international [...]

NASA Unveils Game-Changing Infrared Cameras for Earth and Space Exploration

Karl B. Hille, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center — Tue, 28 May 2024 00:51:56 +0000

Innovative infrared sensors developed by NASA increase resolution for Earth and space imaging, promising advancements in environmental monitoring and planetary science. A newly developed infrared camera featuring high resolution and equipped with a range of lightweight filters has the potential to analyze sunlight reflected from Earth’s upper atmosphere and surface, enhance forest fire alerts, and [...]